Taming Oil
by FizzGryphon
Summary: This is inspired by Planes, but is not connected in any way, shape, or form. If oil is blood, then it has been spilled. Roven and his pack have been living in the forest for decades but twolegs threaten to destroy all of the forest planes. This is rated T for some violence, death, and tragedy. If you can handle reading Warriors then you'll most likely enjoy this.
1. Chapter 1: Roven

I'm not exactly sure if this is fanfiction so if it isn't, please tell me. This story was inspired by Planes and sort of meshed with Warriors to create clans, tribes, and packs of airplanes. How they got there you'll have to find out. Once again, please tell me if it is or isn't!

Taming Oil

Chapter 1

My story begins as an egg, resting in one the size of a football. I was oblivious to the world around me. So near was I to hatching that through my leathery shell I could see basic shapes moving outside. I began to gnaw at the case and I ripped through the shell. They first thing I saw was the roof of our tunnels and my mother's smiling face. Her blue-grey markings where the first color I had seen. I turned my head toward my eggshell and saw that four other round objects that lay lifeless next to my shell. I twisted my head back toward my mother and was drawn to another, smaller version of my mother. This was Regan. Regan looked at me curiously and mother pushed him toward me. He squawked a protest and tried to scurry back behind her landing gear. She gently reached down with her tough and washed the remaining eggshell off of me. She pushed the other round shapes longingly and sighed. Another of our kind rolled up to her and nodded. His grey body resembled Regan's; a bright blue underbelly with red wingtips. This was my father. They, together, were the alphas.

You misunderstand; they are the alphas but not the leaders. The leaders in our culture are called super-alphas. The alphas were the next in line if the super-alphas backed down or died. Kadesh and Lockjaw were the present super-alphas. My mother, Keeleth, and my father, Covan, were the next in line. Those in line next are the young of the alphas. If the offspring of the alphas were too young to be given the title of super-alpha then a deputy would be called. After the deputy were the hunters, then the packers, then the healers, next the packers and the Singflight, or the story teller of the pack, and finally the tunnelers.

It was when Lockjaw invited us to be warriors that we wouldn't be, officially, hatchlings anymore and today was that day. He and Kadesh now stood tall in front of us. They each wore the leader's necklaces, showing their authority. They looked proud and protective of their pack. Lockjaw started, "Today, two students will be appointed a mentor. By Greatwings' will you have made it to this day, a day for you to celebrate. You shall one day stand before him and be able to stand tall, knowing that you began the journey that every warrior takes. But only time will tell if you will succeed in this training by remaining loyal to Thunder Pack and Greatwings himself no matter the circumstances." Lockjaw turned his head so that his nose almost touched Regan's, "Do you, Regan, choose to follow this honorable path no matter what?" Regan nodded, hardly trying to contain his excitement. Lockjaw turned to me, his nose just brushing up to mine. I shuddered as he stared into my eyes as he spoke, "Do you, Roven, choose to follow this honorable path no matter what?" I gave a curt nod before releasing my gaze.

Lockjaw moved back letting Kadesh take his place. Her cold, blue eyes scanned the few warriors gathered, choosing the right mentor for us. Finally she rested her gaze on Blitz. Blitz nodded briefly while Kadesh spoke, "Blitz, I assign you by the Code of Leaders Regan and Roven's mentor. Do you think you will be able to take on this challenge?" I knew he would say yes. Despite being hatched and raised in a different pack he had forged a few of the warriors present himself and only the best of the warriors were chosen to train new warriors.

He came up to speak with his nose raised, "I accept the training of these fine students as a gift to the pack. By the end of next year these two shall be warriors this pack can be proud of." I almost let my jaw drop; I'd never heard Blitz speak without his old pack's accent.

"I believe you will," Kadesh stated briskly and coldly, in her eyes she presented a warning. Blitz was beginning to push his rank to the limits; a new mentor giving his own speech was unheard of at an apprentice's ceremony. The large warrior caught his super-alpha's warning and lowered his nose dramatically. It looked as if he had done this many times before and was pleading for her not to mention his mistake. Kadesh's light blue waving patterns light up slightly as she turned away from him. "These young students are to be trained immediately and taught about borders and the history of the packs." Kadesh flicked her rudders toward Blitz and he hurried us out of the room without looking back."

After Blitz knew we were out of earshot, he tipped his nose to us, "You two gotta tell yer mum about you bein' apprentices an' all." He looked embarrassed from his blunder still.

Regan cocked his head, "Didn't Kadesh tell her?"

The strong warrior shook his head, "Yer mum is pretty protective of ya. Kadesh knew she was gonna try to stop ya from becoming warriors if she didn't do it in secret."

We slipped into our parents' room, one of the most pleasant rooms the camp had to offer. It had a small, natural stream running through the middle and a notch to store prey in. Mother was lapping water from that stream at that very minute. Regan tapped her wing. She turned and we explained what had happened. Mother just stared at us, shock in her eyes, "Both of you?"

Regan rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mother. How many times do I have to say it? We are both going to be warriors. Training starts today."

"Regan and I will be fine. It's not like we're going to be thrown into battle right away, Father and Lockjaw would never allow that, and besides, the pack needs warriors."

She gave us one last longing look before nodding, "Yes, Roven, I know the pack needs warriors. Just… be safe. There are dangerous creatures out there past the tunnels."

Blitz had been listening just outside in the tunnels, "You two gotta begin training and nows the best time ta start." He lead us to the outside… the real outside, with trees and sun and grass, things we'd only heard of from the adults. I wanted to touch everything, and the smells… there was a freshness in the air a tunnel could never allow. The colors were bright, not the dimly lit grays or silvers of underground. The color was so bright that at first I had to squint before my eyes adjusted fully. Blitz's chuckle startled me, it sounded clear and different. I turned to see amusement in his eyes, "I forget how much the world out here amazes you apprentices. Ah, how times have changed. We used to live outside without fear of the twolegs. I miss that." I could see Regan gave him a baffled look when he started to explain. Blitz went on, "You got a lot ta learn. But before ya go off explorin' ya gotta know how ta fight."

Blitz was making us look like fools as he lifted off the ground, seemingly weightless. We hadn't had much practice flying in the tunnels. The most we could do in there was glide a bit, if the roof was tall enough. The big silver and gold warrior's mouth was open as he tasted the air. "Yer lucky, no twolegs have been 'round here lately. They've been a bit too curious recently. I'm guessin' that their huntin' for us."

"What's a twoleg?" Regan asked, echoing my thoughts.

Blitz smiled. "You'll learn soon enough," he paused for a moment before, "Alright, ya gotta be able to fly first before we can do any of the other training." He began to show us how to fly. He said that at first we'd have to take off of a grassrun, or a long strip free of trees used to takeoff. As we got more experienced we'd be able to take off almost vertically as Blitz did.

It took days and days of trying before I managed much more of a glide. "Alright now," Blitz inculcated, "Nose up, ya gotta get yer flaps down. Ease off the pitch… good, good," he'd say. I flipped through his instructions as he watched with eagle's eye my every move. His teaching was harsh and repetitive and it worked. All of a sudden the wind caught under my wings. I was up! All of Blitz's teaching was paying off and snapping together for me. The great warrior's eyes lit up with success, "Good job, yer gettin' it!" I glanced down at Regan whose eyes were trained on me better than Blitz's. He smiled and encouraged me on.

Later that month we had learned a good deal of flight tricks from Blitz but still nothing of the twolegs. "When are we gonna learn about those… what do you call them?" I asked one day before training.

"Twolegs," Blitz informed, "You'll learn 'bout them soon enough. They're dangerous creatures. They've been livin' side by side with us for years now, not botherin' us. But now I'm not sure what's goin' on. They've been tryin' ta shoot us lately."

"_Shoot_ us?" Regan asked, questions forming behind his eyes.

Blitz sighed, "I'll explain it at a different time, now is the time for yer first battle practice."

"If ya lousy airplanes want to fight then get yer nose up!" Blitz growled to us shortly later. His bright gold markings flashed as he circled us. "You gotta be faster if ya want ta escape the bullets flyin' at ya." He slammed his wings into ours sharply, "Ow!"

Blitz looked disgruntled, "You two wouldn't last a day in battle. Yer sloppy on yer turns, over correcting yer banks, an' slow on yer straight-aways. Ya gotta use yer landin' gear, its good fer knockin' yer adversary. Use his weaknesses _and_ his strengths against him! Ya got it?" He came at us again, this time faster. We split and slammed his wings. He snorted as he knocked me into a roll. "You guys stink at this," he moaned. He swung his nose toward the ground and motioned for us to land.

"How… how did we do?" Regan panted.

Blitz looked like he hadn't moved at all. He was relaxed and breathing deeply with his wings folded, "Like I said before, you guys stink at this. But don't worry, you're gonna get better." He let us rest a few minutes before snapping his wings out and barking, "All right, time fer more practice!"

We got better but Blitz was still not satisfied. "You gotta be faster," he stressed, "an' I think I got a good way for ya to improve." Blitz gestured us to wait while he disappeared into the main tunnel. When he returned a few minutes later he had two warriors and Lockjaw with him. "We're gonna go on yer first hunt," he smiled. "This is Isolde, and this is Talca," Blitz introduced the two new warriors, "There's one more plane who's comin' with us." Lockjaw nodded to a third warrior still concealed in the tunnels. The shadowy figure's scent was very familiar but somehow muddled. The large plane slowly pulled himself out of the tight space. He had to fold his wings to get out of the entrance. As soon as his nose stuck out of the entrance both Regan and I gasped but not because of his great size but because we knew him. Our father stood tall before us with his nose pointed toward us.

Lockjaw took one look at our faces and snorted, amused. "Your father is coming with us," Lockjaw said, "He is going to rate your skills. As you know, he is the alpha after all and an alpha's job is to rate students."

Father gave his father a warning look. "Don't scare my sons," he cautioned. He flipped his head toward us again, "I'll be rating you, yes, but it won't be as important for you as it will be for Blitz." He pressed his nose caringly against mine, "You'll also learn about the other packs and our territory borders."

Before taking off, Lockjaw warned us about the other packs, rogues, and grizzlies. "You'll have to keep close during certain spans of the journey. Rogues and loners hang around Bolder Ally, grizzlies are often times hunting in Thickest, and we must keep watch for twolegs and trespassing packs."

"This is the Mud Pack border," Lockjaw explained as we passed over the few trees over the river that ran through our territory, "They're known for living near Bentwing Lake and sharing territory with Golden River Pack and the Tribe of Rogues," He stopped and hovered to sniff the air awkwardly. His lips curled into a growl, "Those no good Mud Packers!" His elevators snapped down and his nose dipped into a dive, "We're going to teach those cow heads a lesson not to trespass on our territory.

Blitz slowed to fly side by side with me, "What do ya scent?" I sniffed the air and a rich earthy scent reached me. I told him. "It's normally not that strong and we're not that close to their border. We'd better help rid our territory of intruders," he said warily.

Talca's growl came to my ears like one of the twoleg cars and when I looked down I saw a plane that could only be an apprentice. His mud brown blotches and black tail were odd and his scent reeked of earth, mud, and marsh. Regan looked at me with the same thoughts going through his head. "What are you doing, apprentice?" Isolde's scratchy voice called with such menace that it made me and Ragan jump.

In the intruders eyes flashed fear and regret. He caught himself and regained his composure. His nose lifted up higher than it should when any super-alpha was around. "I'm not an apprentice," the plane informed, "I'm a warrior."

Father's green eyes were staring, boring into this seemingly young, stuck up warrior. "Mud Pack didn't teach you well," He growled, peeling back his lips, "or you would be more respectful of our leader." The small warrior stood with complete calm as our group of seven surrounded him, snapping and growling.

"I'm not from Mud Pack," he said evenly. Lockjaw signaled Talca to move in. The young warrior screamed as Talca grabbed his wing in her mouth and bit down. "I'm from Golden River!" he yelped, trying in vain to hide his pain through his voice. Oil was trickling down his wing as Talca bit harder. "I swear I wasn't doing anything wrong I just..." Talca bit harder and I looked away, surprised that Talca was so strong. She looked weaker than she really was.

"You'd better have a good explanation, Goldie," Blitz threatened, "or your times of trespassing are over." I saw Lockjaw motion for Isolde to move in closer in case things got worse.

"Look, I thought I'd explore this part of the woods because… because…"

"Well," Lockjaw prodded with a sharp bark.

"I'm supposed to be hunting," the plane cried through clenched teeth, "I was sent by Ryoka and Altan. They said there was a good herd of deer on the north side of our territory and I chased them into yours, sorry."

"What's your name?" Lockjaw hissed.

"I'm Mukessi. Now will you please let me go?" He beseeched. Talca loosened her grasp but was stopped when Lockjaw flicked his ailerons. She tightened it once more. Mukessi's eyes brightened with a fresh wave of pain and his jaw clenched tighter. He looked as if he was going to faint.

"Mukessi," Lockjaw mused, "I've heard that name before. Ah, you're that warrior who killed Gorgon last year. You won't kill anyone else by the time we're done with you."

Mukessi looked horrified, "That wasn't me! That was a plane from Mud Pack."

"Sure," Lockjaw said wryly, not believing the young warrior. "You've killed many, Mukessi, and I've been meaning to get my wings on you." I'd never known Lockjaw to be so hostile. It made me feel uncomfortable to know he could be this way. Regan looked ruffled, too, as if he had seen a ghost. "I'm sorry, Mukessi, but your time of killing is over. You're never going to touch one of my pack members again."

Mukessi looked as though he was already dying, his markings were fading and he looked hot, "Fine, kill me, but Golden River Pack will be at your necks for it," he gasped.

"Very well," Lockjaw said, "Your pack will be maddened but Mud Pack and River Pack should be glad that you're gone." Lockjaw lunged forward with mouth gapping. He stopped just inches from his neck, still with his mouth open. Mukessi's markings had almost completely gone white in his fear. Lockjaw hung there for a moment before backing off. Mukessi looked shocked. "I can't do it," Lockjaw admitted, "I can't kill you. It's not a fair fight, you're injured and afraid." Lockjaw said this though with such a sharp tone that it sounded more like a threat than anything else. Talca let go of his wing and reveled a twisted, cracked, and bleeding wingtip. The bite ran into his flaps, bending them painfully into his main wing. Talca looked horrified at what she had done.

"So… you're not going to kill me?" Mukessi questioned.

Lockjaw looked split. "No," He finally decided, "but I can't guarantee that my pack will let me let you go. After all, the price for murder is almost always execution." Mukessi's eyes flitted between us in fear. "You're not going to get away. You can't fly, thanks to Talca." He nodded to Talca. She still stared at the intruder's wingtip with wide eyes and fear twisted on her face. She hardly acknowledged Lockjaw at all just turning and giving him a weak smile. An awkward silence between the group ensued.

Blitz was the one to break it, "Well, we've gotta intruder on our wings so why don't we get goin'." One by one we all nodded, all except Mukessi. We trotted across the ground as fast as Mukessi could go. His wing kept cramping and we all had to stop because Lockjaw suspected that it was nothing but an act. Each time was real; the plane was nearly in tears. Lockjaw began to get annoyed and was muttering under his breath the whole way. We came upon the river and stopped. "Who wants ta go first?" Blitz asked. Regan stepped up and leaped across, barley missing the edge of the bank. His landing gear splashed in the water making him jump up on the bank and shake it off as if it were mud. Blitz was next, making it in one great bound. Finally it was just me, Isolde, and Mukessi.

"I'm not going over that," Mukessi said with a groan. Isolde gave him a sympathetic look before grabbing his injured wing and leaping over. Mukessi missed horribly, splashing and flailing in the water. Now it was just me. I gathered my thoughts and leaped across my back landing gear splashed in the very edge of the river. The water was colder than it had been before. All of the other group members had amused looks on their faces as they watched me shake the water off. Mukessi looked miserable.

When the tunnel entrance came into view it looked strange and smelt as if it had been draped in a reek so horrible that it made your eyes water. Fear scent was strong as well, as if all the animals in the forest had scattered from a fire. Mukessi had a look of horror on his face. "We gotta get out of here, the twolegs are nearby," he whispered.

Lockjaw crept forward, "There's certainly twolegs scent here, but I don't know where the rest of the pack are?"

"They probably fled like Mud Pack, probably thought you were killed by them," Mukessi said helpfully.

Father cocked his head, "Mud Pack?"

"Mud Pack was attacked by twolegs recently. They all fled; every single of them. They had to retreat to a different camp," he explained.

Lockjaw however went exploring, sniffing the tunnels. "They're all here," he sighed, "No one was h…" He was broken by a loud explosion. Something streaked across the sky and hit him in the neck. More black dots galloped toward us. Mukessi stood, paralyzed with fear as all of us dived toward the tunnels. Blitz grabbed his tail. More explosions could be heard outside while we waited. When silence did break, Regan looked at me; only one thought could be in his mind: what were those?

Lockjaw's neck was bleeding badly, oil streamed down his side and his breathing was labored. Kadesh was soon at his side. She nuzzled him and supported him as they struggled to their room, no one followed. Father went to have an urgent message with Mother and Mukessi, and Talca and Isolde seemed to disappear. Only Blitz was left to explain anything to us. He looked at us breathing heavily, "I… I guess you wanna know what those are."

Blitz lead us to a room where one, lone airplane lay. His markings were streaks of dark, dark red and orange. His nose was longer than most planes' and his tail blunter. "It's time for the lesson on twolegs?" He asked in a gruff voice of the deepest note. Blitz nodded solemnly. "Well, I guess this is going to be hard but it needs to be done…"


	2. Chapter 2: Rise of the Twolegs

Chapter 2

"Let's start at the beginning, the time when our kind didn't exist, the time when only Greatwings existed. Greatwings had decided to create something new. One by one he created the sun, moon, animals, and finally the twolegs, they were in charge. He made one simple rule that over the years has been forgotten. All we know now is that they broke the rule and were banished into a different world, one dominated by pain and killing. Fortunately for the twolegs, Greatwings had mercy and gave them animals to eat. Unfortunately, they had to kill to eat. Greatwings still let the twolegs rule over the animals.

"Many years passed and twolegs became smarter and smarter, creating all sorts of things. Some planes say that they knew so much that it caused them many wars. One war was causing so many problems that the twolegs decided that they needed a weapon, a weapon strong enough to defeat their enemies without having casualties on their own side," the plane glanced at Regan, who was obviously bursting with questions. "Now don't ask questions yet, you two. There's a lot more to the story. They, at that time, already had airplanes like us; of course these were not alive and had to be controlled by a twoleg in the inside. That's why they decided that they should build a robot that they could control from the sidelines. They created a creature like us, a plane like us. The plane was made to do anything the twolegs wanted. They created it to live as a servant but what they didn't realize is that the so called robot was alive and could not be fixed after it died. No one knows why but Greatwings wanted this creature to live. He gave this machine life. They realized it all too late that when they made a second Greatwings made it a female. The two planes were so alive that they could breed. The two had eggs and the twolegs were mystified. They were also excited; it was the science discovery of the year. They decided to try sending the two planes out to destroy their enemies' camp. Instead, the two flew off and hid in the forest. Those two planes started the packs, clans, and tribes we have today.

"I think that the twolegs are coming back to claim us again. I also think that they raised the hatchlings to be domesticated. I've seen planes flying above the twoleg camps and not the huge metal ones that the twolegs fly around for fun. These are real, the ones like us. They've got strange weapons like the one that hit Lockjaw. I'm afraid that we're going to be forced out of our homes and into the twolegs' camps. They've returned and we have to stop them or the packs, clans, and tribes will be destroyed."

Regan looked at the crazy plane with concern, "Well, but will Lockjaw be okay?"

"I don't know, Regan." He said before turning away and lying down. He fell asleep almost immediately. Blitz turned to leave.

"Brefew is a strange and wise plane. He's the oldest in our pack so he's past his prime."

Blitz let us go on our own for a while. We ended up in the infirmary where Lockjaw lay. His breath was rasping in his throat and his markings were pale. Kadesh was nuzzling him with concern in her eyes. Lockjaw looked up at her with his eyes glazed over in pain. Elsayah came up to Kadesh and whispered something to her. Regan slowly came up to them, "Can I talk to you real quick?"

Elsayah nodded, "What is it?"

"How's Lockjaw doing? We hear these weapons are extremely lethal," Regan's voice was drenched with concern and voicing my thoughts.

"I'm not sure, he's in the wings of Greatwings now," Elsayah said, "We had two casualties when the twolegs attacked earlier. They know exactly where to hit on our necks to instantly kill."

Regan and I glanced uneasily at each other. If Lockjaw died then Kadesh would have to, by the Leader's Code, retire as leader. If she retired as leader, Mother and Father would be the super-alphas, leaving me and Regan the alphas. The tasks given to the alphas would be too much for us at this age and a deputy would have to be appointed. We knew we wouldn't like the deputy. It would be Conleth, one of the greatest warriors Thunder Pack had to offer. Although a great warrior, Conleth wasn't the nicest plane. Not only would we be bossed about by Conleth, the pack would lose its greatest leader yet. Nobody could replace Lockjaw, especially with the twolegs giving us trouble.

I was exhausted beyond measure but still had trouble falling asleep; when I did it was restless and full of strange, frightening, creatures ready to kill. By the time I sank deep enough to begin to feel the exhaustion wearing off Regan was poking his nose into my side, "Come on, Roven, Blitz wants us to get up. It's almost sunhigh already!"

I opened my eyes to see Regan and Blitz staring straight down their noses at me. "Alright, alright, I'm up."

"Good," Blitz said, "Because you didn't get a chance to hunt with all the hubbub yesterday."

Regan pushed Blitz and pushed his nose against mine, "Come on, and let's go! Our first hunt, I can't wait."

I couldn't help but try to shake the feeling of impending doom on our pack. "Um, Blitz, can I go check on Lockjaw?"

Blitz stopped short and turned around. In his face there was grief, "Lockjaw died last night just after you two went to check on him. He mentioned you two, he said you were due to become warriors very soon and he told your father to have a ceremony for you as soon as possible."

"And what about Mukessi?" I asked.

"It was decided that he was telling the truth based on his reaction when the twolegs attacked. He's going to have to stay in our camp while Coven decides how to punish him for trespassing."

I felt as if Blitz was acting as if Lockjaw hadn't died and everything was normal, "So… doesn't the pack have a ceremony or something for Lockjaw?"

"Yeah, but yer gonna miss it. The pack needs prey and we've been assigned to fetch it," Blitz sighed.

"And who, exactly, assigned us to hunt on the saddest, most horrible day of our pack's life?"

"Conleth did and… we have to obey orders," Blitz said crankily. He kept flicking his rudders as if he had had no sleep all night. His windshield was glossy as if he had been crying, too.

"I think you're just annoyed that Conleth sent you instead of another plane," Regan tested.

"Look, Regan, Conleth is a fine warrior and was wise ta sent us out. He probably did it knowin' that you didn't get yer huntin' lesson in yesterday. But yeah, I'm annoyed because I feel I need to be there to honor Lockjaw. He was a great leader. Not to mention that I'm missin' Coven's leader ceremony later today. Now enough jabberin' and let's go huntin'," Blitz looked glum, the death of Lockjaw hard on the loyal warrior.

We flew across the territory, scanning the forest green hills. It was when we reached the River Pack's border that we spotted any deer. Blitz, though, signaled for us to wait. "Smell that," he said sniffing the air, "That fishy sent is that of River Pack. They're close and probably patrolling they're border. No sooner had Blitz said it when we saw a bright red tail disappear into the forest. "Oh no, not another trespasser," Blitz groaned, "This day couldn't get much worse."

"How's Thunder Pack doin'," a friendly plane said, taking off and flying toward them, "I know I'm trespassin' but I wanted ta see our ol' clan member."

Blitz smiled, "Feyra, its good ta see ya!" Blitz hovered in the air and touched noses with the silver and red plane.

"Who are yer friends there, Blitz?" Feyra asked, flicking her rudder to us.

"Oh," Blitz said, "These are my apprentices, Roven and Regan." It was hard not to hear the stress and strain in his voice.

Feyra looked Blitz in the eye, "What's wrong, brother? I haven't heard that tone in yer voice since ya left the pack."

Regan and I shared a shocked look and Blitz turned to glare, "Yes, she's my sister," He then snapped his flaps down for us to land. As soon as we landed Feyra went to rub her wing across Blitz's comfortingly. "Feyra, yer right about there bein' somethin' wrong. Lockjaw died last night due to a twoleg attack and I'm not sure how well our pack's gonna do against the twolegs without him… if they attack again."

Feyra nuzzled her brother, "Ah, Blitz, yer pack's gonna be fine. HeatClan just lost our leader a month ago, also due to a twoleg attack. I'm worried about the twolegs, their gettin' mighty curious about our clan. They even got our clan on their side. They said that we gotta join them or else they'll force us to."

Blitz looked horrified, "What? The twolegs can't speak our language!"

"No, but the planes that joined them can," Feyra explained, "Those planes don't know how to fight fair for a fish skeleton. They've got weapons like the twolegs' mounted on their wings." The way she spoke sounded calm, too calm for being attacked by twolegs.

"Let me guess," Blitz said, "Yer clan's gonna join." Feyra nodded. "Ya can't go with them, they could kill ya! Don't go," Blitz pleaded.

"Sorry Blitz but I gotta stay with the clan. I'm not like you who can go transition into another group a' planes without any problem. I've gotta stick with the clan no matter what, even in this hard time."

Blitz nodded, "I understand, Feyra, I just can't give ya up ta the twolegs."

"I'll be back to visit ya, I promise," she comforted, brushing her wing over his.

"How can ya promise if ya don't even know that the twolegs'll letcha visit?"

This seemed to make Feyra think, "I'll bet they'll let me."

Blitz nodded with tears in his eyes, "I don't know if that's true but… just don't let those creatures hurt ya." He draped his nose over her neck in a farewell hug and watched her return to her small territory. "We gotta hunt now, the pack's waitin'," he said, turning to us.

We followed the deer scent again to find that the herd had crossed into Lightning Pack's territory. "Rotten deer," Regan growled, "Now what do we do?"

"We keep lookin'," Blitz replied. When we searched further we found that the herd had actually split into two. One half had decided to graze in the open fields while the other half stayed in the woods, a better and safer hiding place. "Alright you two, yer gonna need to use yer battle and flight skills as best as ya can. You'll creep up ta one deer and strike at its neck. You can't miss or you'll alert the watcher."

"The watcher?" I asked.

"The one who always has his ears pricked and head up," Blitz explained. "Try not to make any noise louder than a twig snappin' and keep yer belly close to the ground." Blitz began to stalk the herd. He flipped his nose toward us, "Oh, and try to stay in the shadows as best as ya can, okay?"

We watched Blitz creep up to one of the deer and struck cleanly. The doe dropped dead on the spot and Blitz picked up his prize. He slunk back to us, holding the deer up and away from the ground so its legs didn't drag and create noise. He rested it carefully on the ground, "See, just like that. I wouldn't say it's easy but it's easier than other things ya might want ta learn." He swung his nose in my direction, "Alright, Roven, yer turn."

I looked uneasily toward the clearing, not exactly sure if I could do this. Blitz nudged me forward gently but firmly. I emptied my thoughts from my mind as I concentrated on the task at hand. I distributed my weight evenly on my three wheels and moved forward, making sure not to make a sound. Eyeing the doe closest to me, I waited for a clear shot. I saw it and whipped my head out toward the deer with jaws open. I bit down on soft fur and warm muscle, tearing into the windpipe and pulled back as silently as possible. The deer went limp and I lifted it of the ground, mimicking Blitz's movement as best as I could. The animal was heavier than it looked and it took all my strength to keep its hoofed legs from dragging. Blitz came to help me out and took the fresh kill from my jaws. "Well done, Roven," He said, dropping the deer on top of his. "I've never seen quite that good of a shot on an apprentice's first try. Okay, Regan, yer turn."

Regan dropped to the ground, his belly barely above the ground. He extended his wings for better balance and crept forward. I watched as he grabbed a deer, just missing its neck. He pulled the animal down by the shoulder as it bleated a warning to the others. As if on cue, the entire group bolted out of their grazing spot. Blitz's quick take-off towards the stampeding deer he managed to take down three more deer before throwing himself into their masses to kill as they ran by. I tried to keep up with the herd as well. My breath was heavy as I struck a deer. This one was a young buck and he struggled with all his might. Throwing me off of him was easy as I did not have Blitz's hunting skills or weight. As I tried to run alongside the herd my wings hit trees and branches. At this rate, even having them folded wouldn't make much of a difference. I began to lag behind when I spotted the doe Regan had injured. She had escaped his jaws and was struggling to lose him. Although Regan wasn't the best at weaving through the trees, he was doing well. He caught up to the doe and, this time, struck correctly. The deer went limp as soon as his jaws were upon it.

Blitz panted heavily when he returned, "I got a lot of them… they still need ta be collected though." He took one deer and hung it over his wing. "Take 'em like this, it'll be easier to carry more when their on yer wings than in yer mouth."

"I take it I blew the whole hunt," Regan sighed, draping his kill over his right wing. "I'm sorry Blitz."

Blitz shook his head, "Don't be sorry. Almost every plane messes up his first hunt in some way or another." He then looked sympathetically at my battered wings. "That's happened ta me once or twice."

We collected our kill and made our way back to camp. Blitz showed us how to fly while still balancing prey on our wings. He made it look easy, like a hatchling could do it. We returned to camp just before sundown and warriors greeted us with grim expressions. The excitement of the hunt made almost all of us forget the tragedy that had occurred. Father was the first one we delivered prey to. His blue markings were darker than normal and he stared at us with tired eyes, "I see you did well on your hunt. That's good, the pack needs it. I sent out several patrols just after you left. Two have returned empty winged." He paused and looked at Blitz, "The other returned with prey but also grave news. The twolegs have tried to turn Strike Pack to their side."

Blitz slid a doe off his wing, "HeatClan has… has been turned as well. Feyra came to say hello and told us that her clan is leaving soon. The twolegs threatened to destroy them if they didn't obey."

Father shook his head, "This doesn't bode well for the planes of the forest, if they keep this up there'll be no hope for the four main packs." He pushed his prey away, "I don't need this, but the warriors do. It'll become food for vultures if you leave this with me." He rested his head over Lockjaw's old necklace.

"Have you had yer ceremony yet?" Blitz asked, pointing with his nose to the leader's necklace.

"No," He slipped the feather and rock necklace on, "I decided that I need every warrior here to see it," he winked at Regan, "And you were gone."

Blitz smiled at him, "Thanks Covan."


	3. Chapter 3: Trouble

Chapter 3

Kadesh stood before Father and Mother, trying to hide her sadness, "Is we know Lockjaw, my mate and the great leader of this pack was killed yesterday. Thunder Pack has mourned his death but now we must move on to the new leader. I have decided to back down. Without a mate to help me, I cannot rule this pack. I must give the leadership to my son and his mate. I hope Greatwings looks down at us and says that these two are the right to rule. These planes have served the pack well as alphas and their time has come to move up." Kadesh motioned for Father to move up, "Covan, I know you have fought and hunted well for this pack. You have been Lockjaw and mine's faithful alphas. Will you, with all your strength and mind, govern this pack knowing you are trying to do the best you can for it and all its members even in the darkest of days?"

"I will," he said. He stood tall even though tears were still in his eyes for his father.

"And will you, Keeleth, help your mate govern the pack with all your strength?"

"I will."

Kadesh nodded, "Then I give you the title of super-alpha of this pack." She slipped the leader's necklaces over their noses and onto their necks. "These are nothing more than a symbol but still a tradition. They've been passed down from the first planes to make their territory here. Our pack may be the oldest in the forest but never shall you think that this pack has more right to be here than any other. Wear these, not with power, but pride in your pack, knowing you are the leader and every Thunder Pack member is resting his life on your wings. Do not be afraid, every leader makes mistakes; just know that Greatwings is in charge no matter what." Kadesh smiled, trying to hide her emotions, "I hereby declare you the super-alphas of Thunder Pack.

The pack erupted in cheers, calling Mother and Father's names. Blitz shouted over the crowd, celebrating the new leader's reign. I joined in happily. Father raised his nose and silence fell over us, "I hope that Lockjaw is proud of me. I promise to lead the pack through whatever comes, good or bad, with the best of my ability. Although I will not long be remembered, I hope that for the time I am I'll be remembered as a good leader." He let the pack cheer for a bit longer before releasing them from the meeting. He came up to Regan and me, "I know you might not like it, but I have a job for you." He pressed his nose to Regan's then to mine, "Your mother needs some help in the nursery. Can you do that?" He looked up at Blitz who nodded.

"Sure, Father," I said, "Why does Mother need help?"

"Mother is due to lay eggs soon and she needs to rest. You can help her watch the other she-planes' hatchlings while they hunt. Your hunt brought back quite a pile but not enough to feed a growing pack and hatchlings."

"Yes, father," Regan answered. We made our way through the tunnels into the nursery. Regan looked at the hatchlings with contempt in his eyes, "Do we really have to be doing this?" I rolled my eyes; the hatchlings were cute and fun to watch. Mother lay down heavily with wings folded and sleep in her eyes, "Thank you for coming. It's a big help to me when the other mothers are hunting."

"So," I started, "We're going to have brothers and sisters?" I saw Regan snort with disapproval.

Mother beamed with excitement. "Yes," then her eyes grew dark and clouded as if she were staring into a different world, "If they make it." I shivered. I'd heard about how lucky we were to have survived. We were part of mother's second clutch, a clutch of six. Her first clutch was of eight. Only four lived to hatching. Those hatchlings died within their first winter when food was scarcer than it had been ever before. We were the only ones that had survived. The rest of our clutch drowned in a summer storm because they were lower in the nest. We would have drowned in our eggs too if it hadn't been for Father rescuing us in time. An egg didn't have much chance of survival if anything unfortunate happened.

I turned my attention to a small green and white marked hatchling. Her brown eyes looked at me curiously as if to say, "Who are you?" I gently ran my tongue over her and she squeaked happily but she seemed weak and feeble to me, even for a hatchling. "That's Whitefern," Mother explained. "Chances are she isn't going to make it. She was the smallest egg in her clutch and… most of her siblings have died inexplicably. She's holding on but growing weaker each day." I wanted to believe that she would live but looking at her made me see. She was weak and didn't look right as if something internally was wrong with her.

"Could she be an unfortunate?" I asked. An unfortunate was a plane with a defect since hatching. It could be anything from a twisted wingtip to missing part of a tail to even something internally wrong like a hole in a throat. Most unfortunates were doomed to die soon after hatching and those who survived were at the bottom of the pack. If famine happened to strike, they would be the first ones to go. That was the hard rules of the wild: those who are weak do not survive.

Mother sighed, "She could be. If that is the case then it would probably be better for her to die rather than suffer throughout her life." I watched Whitefern as she played around my landing gear. Her markings looked vaguely familiar as if I had seen them before. Mother must have seen the question in my eye, "What's wrong?"

"Whose hatchling is this?" I asked.

"Talca's hatchling, as is he," she motioned toward another small but strong hatchling of the same colors.

I could see that they defiantly were. Whitefern somehow reminded me of her in a way beyond her markings. "She's small and weak looking like Talca too," I said suddenly, "But Talca is a strong and fast warrior. Maybe it's just that she looks weak, not that she is!"

Mother looked at me skeptically, "You might be right; I want to believe you're right." She repositioned her head so that her nose almost rested under her wing and closed her eyes. "I should get some sleep."

Regan looked at me amused, "Why does it matter to you so much that the hatchling is weak. She'll survive if Greatwings thinks it right."

"I don't know, Regan, I just think that every hatchling deserves a chance to live before everyone goes and says she won't make it."

"Okay," Regan snorted, "Don't bend your wing over this. I just thought it was funny that you care so much about a hatchling that isn't your own, it's just not natural."

We watched the hatchlings for about an hour when another plane entered the room. It was Elsayah, the healer of our pack. "I heard you went on your first hunt," she said, "and you two got quite a few minor injuries."

"Yeah," I said, "I ran into a few too many trees when I was chasing the deer."

"And I… I was kicked a couple of times by them too," Regan added.

She laughed, "You don't need to explain, Blitz told me. I've come to watch the hatchlings while you stop by the infirmary to get those treated."

Regan and I took off at once; we were ready to have some relief from the minor but painful wounds we'd received. My wings were still throbbing in certain spots. The infirmary at this time was darker. The one hole that gave the room lighting was shaded over by an inconvenient tree. Only two other planes were being treated at the time. One was an elder who had gotten her tail ripped up in a crash landing when her wings had failed her. The other was a young black and silver warrior who had grizzly claw marks across his nose. "Just one minute," a light blue marked healer said as she wrapped a tanned cow hide around the elder's tail. When she was done she looked at us. "Ah, the two apprentices I was expecting. Well done on your first hunt. Blitz told me you performed exceptionally. He also told me a few trees moved into your way and a couple of deer decided to run into you."

"Yeah," we said in unison.

"Well let's take a look," she said, scanning my wing up and down. "You've got a few scratches and a couple of nasty dents but those we can't do much about. They have to heal on their own." She glanced at my other wing, "You took a hard hit here." She gently touched her nose next to an oil streaked scratch. "We have to wash that out before it gets infected."

She went to the corner of the room and picked a few leaves from organized piles. She chewed them thoroughly before applying them to my wing. The slow throbbing increased to a stinging pain that felt as if deer antlers were raking across my wing. "Sorry," she apologized, "The stinging means it's working." She went to the other side and took out a thin strip of deer hide. She dipped it in a natural pool in the infirmary and draped it over my wound, twisting it tight around my wing she secured it in place. "There, that should do for now. You'll have to come back tomorrow to have the dock leaves reapplied. You'll only have to wear this for two days."

She turned her attention to Regan. "You've got a few scratches too. Hmm," she pressed her nose to one spot on his tail and Regan pulled away. "Yep, you need to have that tail wrapped up. It's pretty battered." She once again went to the back and picked up a piece of tree branch, "This should help." She set the branch on top of a fur stripped piece of hide and stripped the bark off the stick. Placing the branch back where she got it, she took a twoleg made wooden pail and filled it with water. She crushed the bark with her nose gear and shook the powder into the pail. "Here," she brought the twoleg pail over to him, "Drink this, it should help ease the pain."

Regan lapped up the water obediently. She gathered another hide while explaining what it was, "That's Balsam Fir bark, good for healing wounds, easing pain, and curing colds. What I'm going to apply to your tail is Cedarwood bark pulp. I'm going to wrap that up in deer hide to keep you from rubbing it off while you go about your business."

Regan lifted his head from the pail, "And what about me being able to rudder while I fly?"

"Oh, don't worry; this hide has been cut to allow your rudder to move while still being covered." She held up a piece of hide that she pulled over his tail. It had slits in it so that he could move his rudder freely. She smiled, "That's my teeth work. Before I invented this you would've had to stay on the ground for the next day."

A month passed without much commotion from anyone, Mukessi went home after being given a good dose of catnip and being left out in the woods to wake up confused. Mother was very near to laying eggs and spent most of her time in the nursery. Father was working well as the leader and Conleth was doing well with distributing patrols evenly across the warriors. Our hunting and fighting was improving considerably. Even the twolegs seemed to have given up on their objective of capturing forest planes.

It was the second month of Father's reign that Mother laid her eggs. Only five eggs were in this clutch. Mother's shone with excitement. It was on this day that Blitz talked to Father about our warrior ceremony. He accepted.

I stood proud in front of the pack as a fully fledged warrior, Father beamed with pride as he announced us warriors, "By Greatwings' will these two young planes have completed their training as apprentices. Tonight will be a night to celebrate for the pack as two new warriors enter our pack." He turned his head to Blitz, Conleth, and Elsayah. Their eyes shone bright as Father brought them up, "Not only does this pack have two new warriors; it also has three new apprentices as well. Blitz, come forth. You will be assigned Arazon, son of Isron and Talca, as your new apprentice." Blitz nodded politely and touched Arazon's nose with his wing. "Conleth, come forth. You will be assigned Alkali, son of Corzar and Jasmine, as your new apprentice." Conleth did the same as Blitz but with Alkali. "And last but not least," Father said, "We have an apprentice who would like to take the path of a nurse in the infirmary: Whitefern. Elsayah will be assigned Whitefern as her apprentice." Whitefern leaped up and let Elsa brush across her nose. I must have been the one cheering the loudest for the young apprentice's acceptance.

Whitefern smiled as she took in the pack's cheering for her. It wasn't often that a plane would take up the healing job before becoming a warrior. Father struggled to calm them down, "I've made a new rule to be followed. All new apprentices, healers or warriors, must participate in a pack's hunt after ceremony." A few of the planes shook their heads in disapproval. "I know that it is custom to learn battle moves before hunting but the pack needs it. Twolegs are still here and scaring deer off."

"Not that many deer," Conleth added, not wanting to worry the pack, "It's not as if the pack is poorly fed."

Father nodded, "But I'm talking about the future. If any famine were to strike, would we have enough hunters to survive?" A few outraged growls exploded quietly in Thunder Pack's members. "I'm not saying we are weak, I'm saying are stronger this way. Many of you know that some of the smaller tribes are perishing because of the loss of deer."

Gillzar, a dark green and silver plane shouted, "The twolegs can't chase off the deer… and if they do then they will suffer our wrath!"

Father extended his wings silencing the pack, "I know you think this is ridicules," Dapplefeather mumbled something disapprovingly, "Look just… please."

Conleth snapped his jaws in a bark to get everyone's attention, "Listen to your leader. He makes a good point in doing this." A few of the planes mumbled a forceful agreement. Father, relatively exasperated, flicked his rudders dismissing his pack.

Conleth pulled me aside after the meeting, "I need you to go on a special border patrol with your brother." He glanced around almost nervously. "Go to the Tribe of Rushing Water and ask them if they've had trouble with twolegs… and be careful, you're going to have to fly over a twoleg camp." I nodded, not really sure I should be making this journey without a seasoned warrior.

I gathered Regan and together we set off. I could sense Regan's excitement without even looking at him; his flight was so off kilter that flying behind him was a pain. I, however, was worried considerably. Neither of us had been allowed on the east border for fear of us being spotted by the twolegs. We'd heard that the Tribe of Rushing Water was the only pack to live without fear of the twolegs. They had such strong warriors that could tear a forest plane's wings right off. They also lived under a cliff so narrow that a twoleg would never try to interfere with them. Chinook was their main healer, a large plane who walked strong with Greatwings and knew every cure there was to know in the forest. And I certainly didn't want to face Sayleen, their leader. Some of the elders told stories about the tribe leader. They said that he had been raised in Lightning Pack but was banished. They said a scar ran down his body made by lightning itself. He was bound to kill us if we didn't work smoothly.

The second of our problems were the twoleg camps. Every plane knew that twolegs didn't want planes around. They had attacked and going into their territory was asking for trouble. I spotted the multicolored huts first, their scent strange and unforgiving. The smell made my eyes sting. It was worse than stale meat or rotting flesh, almost worse than oil and blood on a hunt gone badly.

We flew over the twoleg camp as low as we dared, fear of the Tribe of Rushing Water and instinct to stay away from twolegs was telling me to turn back and leave this mission to a more experienced warrior but loyalty to Thunder Pack and fear of being punished by Conleth was stronger. Regan pressed his red wingtips against mine, "I know you're scared but we're perfectly safe." When I looked down I didn't feel like it; twolegs and their cars ran across the black, hard ground below in chaos. I wanted to leave. "Look, come on, Roven, we're warriors now. Warriors aren't afraid of anything no matter what they face."

I turned and stared him in the eye, "Warriors can be afraid but never back down." We banked around back towards the lake where the Tribe of Rushing Water lived. "We have to show them we're not a threat," I said sensibly. Regan nodded and we lighted down on the cliffs concealing their camp. The wind whistled around us, threatening our grip on the earth. With wings extended we crept to the edge of the cliffs. We looked down at the swirling waves, licking and smacking at the sight of the jagged rocks below. Only a few feet away from the rock barrier was a strip of sand about ten to fifteen feet wide where a younger plane sat facing the lake. I tried to dig my nose gear deeper into the rock as another gust of wind rattled in our ears.

A large warrior flew just a hundred feet above our heads. In his mouth he held a cow. He banked toward us a growled menacingly. I dipped my head and waved a wing at him while lowering myself to where my belly scraped the cliff. We watched him disappear into a cave and return. He towered above us with flaps, elevators, and ailerons raised, "What are Thunder Pack warriors doing here?"

"We… uh… we came to see if you, uh, had trouble with twolegs. Most of the forest has been having trouble with them and… we were wondering if you were too," I foolishly sputtered.

The warrior gave us a glare that contained all hate for us, "If we were to have trouble, we'd tell you. You have your answer now go before I get Sayleen to rip your wings right off of your bodies." He looked us down as if sizing us up and his eyes went soft. "You are just new warriors," he breathed, "What are you doing here alone? Who sent you here?"

I rolled back, "Our deputy sent us here and as for the purpose, I just told you."

He looked worried, his eyes swirling storms of grey turmoil. "You should go. Wandering the territories freely is dangerous. Some planes would attack as soon as look at a trespasser and you had to have crossed the twoleg village or the lake to get here. It is not smart to fly over water unless you're used to it and the twoleg village is no place for new warriors. The twolegs are cruel monsters not to be messed with, they have weapons and aren't afraid to use them. Now go, before I'm caught talking to you."

Regan and I shared a look of fear before taking off back toward the territory. Conleth had to have known how risky this trip was so why had he sent us? He was a thick headed brute when it came to battle but a caring plane when living in the pack. I couldn't shake the bad vibe I'd gotten from him. I took it to Regan. "Regan, do you have any ideas about why Conleth sent us out here alone?"

Regan gave a sort of shrug, "I don't know. He had to have had a reason, though I question sending us out alone."

"Do you think he wanted us gone?" I suggested, thinking aloud.

Regan shifted around, stopping in front of me with hard eyes. "Why would you think that? Conleth is a good warrior who has served the pack for many years now. He's earned his rank, trust, and place in the pack. Are you questioning his honesty?"

I shrugged and continued on, still afraid and unsure about Conleth but I pushed back the feeling of doubt. My brother had a point; Conleth had helped in so many ways and had been a warrior ever since I could remember. His place in the pack was well earned. I managed to push away any form of doubt on Conleth's reputation and flew on.

We arrived just after noon to the pack to find another plane had gone missing. His name was Ravik. Ravik's main role in the pack was to hunt and he never, ever, left camp boundaries alone. "Something," Father said, troubled, "had to have lured him out. A cow perhaps, a deer, a scent trail?" He paced back and forth a few times before Mother came in. Father gave her a hopeful look. Mother lowered her nose and looked at the ground; no words had to be said. "What happened?" Father asked with dread thick in his voice, "Di you find anything that could lead to this mystery?"

"No," she said before shaking her head, "Nothing of him was found. It's as if he disappeared."

"Disappeared," Father repeated, beaten. He sighed before letting himself lay over a few rocks scraped away into a flat surface. Mother nuzzled him. "That's the second plane this week. The twolegs are taking our pack one by one; soon we'll be nothing but a memory. Our territory will be deserted; our lives only remembered as enemies of other packs, we'll be nothing more."

"Don't speak like that," Mother tried to comfort him, "We'll find a way to survive this. We can move to our various emergency camps if we are found out." Mother went over and put a protective wing over her clutch of eggs. "These are our future, these are not demolished, our pack is not gone, and we certainly still have a home." Father nodded slowly.

"Yes," he said as if it were more of a wish, "We still exist."

The conversation ended there.


	4. Chapter 4: The Hunger Days

**Sorry for taking a while with getting this one out. I've been relatively busy with school and I also had trouble naming some of the characters here. If anyone has any name suggestions I'd love to here them. Don't hesitate to give me names that could be common to made-up, I need every kind for the future. Thanks and please review.**

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

_Two Years Later…_

I looked at my two siblings and sighed, they were hopeless in their training, any plane could see that. Blitz shook his head as we watched them tussle pointlessly over each other. I looked at Blitz in a sort of 'I'm so sorry you have to deal with this' look. The corners of his mouth started to turn up in a bit of a smile, "You were just as bad."

I turned to Finbar and Azarias with a smile, "You two have to open your jaws more. A bigger bite is a deadlier bite."

Finbar gave a sharp toothed smile up at me. Regan, sitting bored behind me, rolled his eyes. Father came up to us from behind. "I know how much you love this," he said sarcastically, "so I'll let you go on a hunt." We gave him pained looks as our own hunger was almost unbearable. The pack had not eaten well for two months now and our sister, Kataleen, was too weak to train. Father gave us a disappointed look, "Look, we need you to do this." There was a tired twang to his voice that made him sound ill, "There isn't enough food to go around."

I found that it was hard to think about the pack as my hunger kept gnawing at my tank. Regan didn't look any better off. He looked at me with a sort of panting, ragged, breath. The pack couldn't go on for much longer like this. Twolegs were a threat more than ever, showing up around every corner, every tree. Patrols were being sent out less and less and when patrols failed, hunts failed. Deer and cow were hard to come by. The trees below us seemed a maze, a lifeless sea of green, the sky a world of endless blue. We turned slightly to the left to see a few strong looking deer, their tails high and ears pricked for danger. Regan flicked his rudder, wobbling in the air, for me to move in closer. This would be a quick hunt if everything ran smoothly. I lowered myself until every leaf on every tree was visible. I looked up to see Regan flying high above me, a speck of silver and red in the sky.

I startled the deer into running to Regan, who picked them off one by one. When every deer was dead we set our tires down heavily in a field. Regan panted but smiled with eyes bright at our accomplishment. "Roven," he said, "Do you think it would be a crime to eat now. We can't hunt any longer on empty tanks."

"I…" I couldn't argue with him as my tank growled its complaints, "I suppose not." Regan dug his teeth into a deer and I joined him. The warm blood trickled down my throat, soothing it tremendously but I instantly felt guilty. I had disobeyed one of the first rules I'd been taught: the pack comes first, no matter what it requires, hunger, your life, anything. I forced the thought away and finished the deer as quickly as possible. I was about to gather the others to bring back to camp when I heard a snap. It sounded more like metal clicking into place or the sound a plane's flaps when one slammed them down suddenly.

I immediately looked up at the sky for an answer, searching for a streak of silver in the painted blue. I spotted none so I turned my head to Regan. His eyes were fixed on a different part of the forest where an oak stood. I shivered as I took a deep breath to smell the air. My wings tightened when the unmistakable scent of twolegs overwhelmed me. Another click ensued and a ragged twoleg stepped out, the fur atop his head a dark brown like that of a grizzly. He carried with him a long stick, a weapon. This creature pointed it threateningly at us, waving it back and forth like a snake focused on his prey, ready and waiting to strike. He spoke one word and a dark shadowy plane like figure rolled out of the forest. The plane's scent was hidden by the reek of the twoleg but so familiar, too familiar. "You two will be out of my way by the time this day ends," a voice snarled from behind the trees. A single shot sent Regan collapsing to the ground, oil streaking down his neck in a black river. I took off as fast as I possibly could, more shots ensuing. I rolled and dodged them as best as I could. Only one hit me on my right elevator. I shrieked but continued on, trying to get away as fast as possible.

I turned back to look to see if anyone was pursing me. No one was. Only Regan, whose eyes were swirling with terrible pain, was following, leaving a streak of black oil in his flight path. I decreased my speed considerably so that I was flying alongside him. He looked at me with concern, "Are you okay?"

I looked back at my tail. A small hole punctured just above my elevator and oil was leaking out from it. It stung but I could think it was nothing compared to Regan's wound. I nodded a bit, "I'm fine, I'll live but you, you are injured badly, Regan. You need to get back to camp as fast as possible."

Regan grimaced, "I'm fine." I decided arguing was pointless so I turned my attention to getting back to camp. I spotted it just as my tail began to cramp up and lock. _Perfect timing_, I thought as my tail complained as I lowered my nose to land. Regan and I landed heavily and as for my landing, not the most gracefully. Conleth was out carrying a deer in his jaws. He looked genuinely concerned when he looked at us. Regan gave a look of disgust at the deputy as he gawped at his wound.

"What happened?" the plane asked, shock and fear evident in his voice.

"We ran into a twoleg," I explained, "He shot us with his stick."

Conleth left at the word 'twoleg' to tell Father. I went to follow but Regan only stood gasping in the entryway. I turned to him, concerned for his health. He glanced gratefully at me as I tried to support him as he rolled forward. "Thanks," but that one word was more a ragged, exhale of breath than a sound. I tried to hurry him into the infirmary. Elsayah was there to greet us, her face twisting into a distorted look of concern, disgust and pity as we came in. She hurried over to the opposite side to gather a few deer and cow pelts and stuff them in a corner for Regan to lie upon. He collapsed thankfully onto the soft fur and skin. Elsayah twisted a deer hide after dipping it in the pool and placed it over his neck, washing off the oil that had gathered and dribbled down his side. Regan inhaled sharply but Elsayah didn't give any word to what she was doing. Concern and dread were in her eyes as she worked. A few times she shooed me away to fetch other healers. I didn't like where this was going as three more planes gathered into the infirmary.

I was driving briskly down one of the tunnels leading to the royal family's dens when I heard both Kadesh's and Mother's voices raised and yelling at each other. Conleth's voice boomed through the walls as well. It didn't take much to hear them as they argued over what the pack should do next. "First prey, now members!" Father growled menacingly to no one in particular. Conleth gave an angry roar of agreement. "Those twolegs must be stopped at all costs."

Kadesh's voice, softer than the two male planes', cut through the yelling like a small but deadly blade. "We'll fight if they come closer but not yet. Let's not make rash decisions concerning the twolegs and their weapons."

Just then Blitz rolled past me, eyes troubled and jaws clenched. He hardly acknowledged that I was there and he flew past me and into the room where the argument of the royals was taking place. I know not what Blitz said but whatever it was made everyone go quiet. A sort of still shock rippled in the air at Blitz's news. Mother began to whimper then growl until Kadesh came to rub her wing over her comfortingly. I could hear her soft voice calming Mother down. Blitz brushed past me once more, this time there were slight tears in his eyes. I followed him, he didn't respond. "Blitz, what happened?"

Blitz turned with his teeth bared, "The twolegs took Feyra! They took her pack! All that's left of 'em is an empty camp," he shrunk until he looked like a hatchling about to cry, "They're gone, Feyra's gone." He took a breath, "And yer brother, he's hurt badly." Blitz didn't meet my eyes as he said his next sentence, "Regan might die."

Something in me snapped, he couldn't be dying, he just couldn't. There was no way that my own brother would leave me alone. I pushed past Blitz and headed to the infirmary where Regan lay. What met my eyes was terribly shocking to me. Regan, looking ready for anything this morning, now lay defeated and weak from the wound in his neck. The light blue healer who had cured our wounds after our first hunt came up to us, eyes round. "His neck is still bleeding and we can't stop it. He's lost so much oil… too much oil," her eyes went distant for a moment, "Your brother actually took on several shots, all in the neck. Any one of them under a normal circumstance could be fatal but all together… there's little hope left."

I rolled slowly up to Regan. He was asleep and unconscious. A thick deer hide was wrapped around his neck and over part of his nose, his breathing was labored and raspy, and his entire body was slightly pale, showing the loss of oil. I pressed my nose to his, fear for him welling inside my tank, disbelief and denial in my head. The pack had a taken a hard blow today. To my surprise, Regan stirred, his wings shuddering as he raised his head slightly to look at me. "Roven? What happened, did you teach that twoleg a lesson he'll never forget?" He almost chuckled to himself, "I took quite a few blows today haven't I? I can feel it. How bad is it?"

"Bad," I said, unwilling to say more.

Regan looked me down, his gaze resting on my injured tail. I'd almost forgotten about it in all the chaos. "You never got your tail checked out did you?"

"No," I answered numbly.

Regan looked concerned, "What happened that got you so worked up?" I couldn't meet his eyes. Regan gave me a confused look, "It's okay. You can tell me. I'm your brother."

"No, it's nothing," I lied. "I'm just worked up because you're hurt."

Regan laughed weakly, "Then you really are worked up over nothing."

I couldn't keep the truth away from him as he looked up at me with his brilliant blue eyes. I fumbled over my next words, "Okay, you said I could tell you anything," Regan nodded, "and there's something I do need to tell you. You are… you are… you're going to… maybe… die."

I watched my brother's expression turn from that of horror to that of denial, "I'm fine, you know that. Look at me, Roven," he fumed, "I won't give up my life like Lockjaw did. I'll fight my own body if I have to, I'll face Greatwings if I have to." His voice was heavy with seriousness. Something about his dead tone made me shiver.

"I hope you're right," I said, "because I can't go on without you."

Just then a nurse shooed me away, "He needs rest and you need to get that tail wrapped up." I didn't protest as she called over Elsayah to have my tail checked. Elsayah chewed some leaves to a pulp and placed them on my tail. They soothed the stinging, scratching, gravel like pain as she grabbed a cow hide and wrapped it around my tail. She then told me not to fly for the next day and shoved me off. I could see fear in her eyes, a fear that made dread creep up my back. These were dark times.

I reached my den to see Mother crouching in her corner, her windscreen glossy. She looked defeated. I rolled up to her, slipping my nose over hers. She welcomed the hug gladly. "Your sister is very ill," she whimpered, "and Regan is injured. Do you know how he is?"

I lifted my head to look Mother in the eye, "You haven't seen him?"

She shook her head, "How could I? Twolegs are all over the place, riding in cars with more weapons and hiding in the forest, waiting for their chance to strike."

I shuttered at the news. "Regan says he'll be fine. He just needs rest." Mother gave me a look that said she didn't believe me but cast it aside. She huddled up to me that night before Father came in, his giant form weak and feeble from lack of prey and the stress grating on his spirit. He was no longer fit to be leader but these days no plane would be.

I visited Regan a day later and had my tail redressed as well. Regan looked better, the color had returned to his markings, but he sounded worse; his breathing was ragged, scratchy, and shallow and his voice was all but gone. He assured me he'd be fine and that this was only a side effect of the medicine the healers had given him. Whitefern also told me the same, assuring me he'd be fine. I wanted to believe it, I wanted to know that was the case but I couldn't. I'd seen the look of fear beyond Whitefern's eyes, I also knew that Regan was, I hate to say, a hard headed and stubborn plane at certain times, anyone who's anyone that met him knew that.

A week passed and Regan was still holding up to his injuries. The red, blue, and silver plane began to recover. His wound had closed and was beginning to heal. It was a great day when Whitefern and Elsayah both assured me that he'd be fine. I breathed a prayer of thanks to Greatwings that he was going to make it.

Meanwhile Regan's recovery, the pack had taken terrible blows from the twolegs. A total of four planes had been taken, each seeming to disappear off the face of the earth. As for our prey we had very little. The unfortunates of our pack were growing thin, several of the elders were very ill as well. Father had gone so far as to decree that every plane in the pack shall get an even and fair portion of prey. No plane goes unfed and no plane goes without at least a small ration of prey. There was no longer a pecking order to the way we ate. If anyone were to be caught eating more prey than another they'd have to go without food for a day. This was how far we had to go.

Kataleen was only growing weaker as the days went by until she was nothing but a shadow, an almost lifeless shadow. She was clinging to life each minute. Every day we thought she was going to die, every day waiting for her to shudder as she took her last breath, wishing for her to suffer no longer. Finally that day came. Every one of us was glad for her as her suffering had ended. The only ceremony we had for her was a quick prayer of thanks and sadness to Greatwings for her death. It was terrible for everyone.

Every day brought a new challenge to face: twolegs, lack of prey, other packs trespassing to find prey. We all were working overtime to feed the pack. Father was beginning to lose hope as was the rest of the pack. We came to know and call this period the hunger days.

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><p><strong>Notes:<strong>

**If anyone forgot Whitefern is a healer about two years younger than Roven and Regan. Planes mature, like animals, in a shorter time although often live longer due to the fact they were originally man made.**

**I realize that I'm introducing a lot of characters at once but some of them will play a larger role later on.**


	5. Chapter 5: Bleak Days Ahead

**MovieGirl44~ I'm glad that you've been enjoying this story. I thought it was not the greatest when I started it so thank you for urging me on to writing this. There is a plane coming along in the next chapter that I may name from your list. Thank's for the names, they'll be a big help to me in more ways than one.**

**Inzl Kett~ I am also grateful that you have been reading. I hear you're from the Navy and if you see anything that needs improving upon or is incorrect in my stories I'd be thankful for the help.**

**I'm still taking name ideas so if anyone wants to contribute, let me know.**

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><p>Chapter 5<p>

"Roven! Regan! You have to evacuate the tunnels and make your way to the second camp!" It was Father, fear and anger rising in his voice. "The twolegs are attacking! Go, go, go!"

The pack was in frenzy as everyone grabbed whatever they needed to bring. Regan and I burst through the entrance to face dozens of twolegs lined up with their fire sticks. Blitz came after us, barking quick orders. "Hold your ground; we only need to distract them! Lead them away from the pack and second camp!"

We split ways, snapping and slamming our wheels into the twolegs. Bullets pelted against our 'skin' and sunk in, stinging bits of flame. I felt my senses go into overdrive, every scream, every fire shot, every strange yelp of the twolegs was finely tuned in my ears. I could see everything before it happened: Father as he took down several twolegs, Blitz as he almost fell from the sky as he took on heavy battle, and Regan as his neck was ripped open once more. I fought with all my might, for the pack. I suddenly heard Conleth scream. I whipped my head around to see that he was pushing Kadesh away from the fighting as she bled oil. More fire shots went off and I watched Kadesh fall from the sky. Conleth pounced on the twoleg that had shot her down, roaring in its face. If I had had time to look closer I would have. Something about the way Conleth was roaring told me that it wasn't punishment but rather communication. But now was not the time to contemplate or blame others for treason, now was the time to "retreat" to the fake camp then sneak around back to the real camp where the other planes would be safely hidden. We broke off the fight and regrouped, setting off towards the false camp, the opposite of where the others of the camp had fled.

We lost the twolegs slightly after breaking and began to slowly travel back to camp. The planes there were shocked as the warriors rolled in, oil splattering across our frames and blood splashing around our lips and landing gear. Father shoved everyone aside and slipped in with mother on his tail. Conleth escorted those wounded to the new infirmary. Soomsani, the light blue healer, was there along with Elsayah. They took a look at Nakaru, a dark grey warrior with navy blue stripes and lighter blue wingtips, and shook their heads, whispering something to him. Nakaru's eyes widened in horror and he stormed out of the room. We never saw him again after that. The nurses looked me down and placed some sort of ivy on my wing where I had been shot repeated times. Soomsani moved on after telling me to wash the blood and oil away. She next looked at Gillzar, who only had a few smaller wounds from hitting trees when we had regrouped. Then Elsayah looked at Regan, who had indeed reopened his neck. They made him lay down in the room where Whitefern began tending to him. She and Regan had become quite close through the days of his healing. After several moments, Elsayah shooed those planes without terrible injury away and took in the next batch of warriors.

I stayed, my starboard wing throbbing and shooting with burning, terrible pain, to see that the last to come in were the leaders. Father and Mother both supported Kadesh on their wings while Conleth came in oddly proudly behind them. The sight of the deputy made a growl erupt from my throat involuntarily. Father gave me a half hearted glare before focusing on Kadesh.

Oil seemed to stream down from everywhere, her neck, her wings, her tail, and all the way down her fuselage. It wasn't until Father and Mother slipped their wings out from under hers until I realized she was unconscious. Whitefern and Regan shared a look of horror behind me, as well as several of the healers. Warriors turned their heads at the sight of the fallen leader. Father wept bitter tears beside Kadesh as Elsayah pronounced her dead. I turned away, tears beginning to flow as I mourned over my grandmother's death. Elsayah and Soomsani hooked their wings under Father's and half dragged the super-alpha to the other side of the room. Whitefern then told Conleth and Mother to bring the body outside and away from the camp where it was sure not to be spotted. I couldn't tell if I imagined it but I thought I saw a victorious glint in Conleth's eye as he slung Kadesh across his back. As soon as it was there, it was gone.

There was no prey that night for anyone, each and every plane making sure the pack would not be spotted. We would all go hungry for the next few days, shutting ourselves into a deep sleep half the time. We lost Corro, a brave warrior who had saved his brother, Imay, and sacrificed himself for it. Two other warriors were clinging to life in the wings of Greatwings by now. One included Imay, whom Corro had tried so hard to save.

After about a week of deep sleep and hunger, a group of planes decided to try to hunt. To our surprise they brought back several plump deer and a big cow. Sorkarra, a female hunter was pleased to inform us that the hunger days were over. She stood next to my degraded father with a smile wrapped around her nose to spread the good news, "The deer have returned and the twolegs are letting their cow venture once more!" Joyful hollers from the pack could be heard.

The days that followed were good ones, taking hunger and fear away and replacing it with happy gatherings. Regan flew next to me, fully recovered. Whitefern tagged along for this flight. "Do you think the pack is finally out of the hunger days?" I asked.

Regan looked at me with strange eyes, as if they had a new layer of depth to them. "I think the hunger days are over, but not the war days. The forest planes are still in trouble if twolegs come along again."

Whitefern had different thoughts, "I believe the twolegs had learned their lesson. Sure, they took down Corro and Kadesh, but did you see how many we conquered as well?"

"You say that like you do not care that Kadesh is dead," I said darkly. Regan slapped my wing slightly in mid flight. "What?"

Regan didn't answer, only giving me a harsh look then casting a soft, sorry glance at Whitefern. I could see that Regan was in love, it was in his eyes. Whitefern returned it. "It's okay," she said softly, "Kadesh and Corro didn't deserve to die but they died honorable deaths. If not for Corro, Imay would be dead, and if not for Kadesh, we may not have won the fight."

I gave her a surprised look, "What do you mean?" I knew Kadesh had fought harder than anyone else but what had she done that made us win?

"You don't know?" Whitefern asked, her voice going higher in surprise, "She only disabled the leader of that group of twolegs!"

Regan nodded, "The twoleg that gave her all those wounds, the one that took her down, retreated after Kadesh's fight. Not to mention Conleth's wild, strange, uncomprehendable speech."

"I wonder why Conleth didn't kill him," I mused aloud. "He seems in league with the twolegs somehow. Did you see the smug look on his face for a second as he took Kadesh's body away?"

Both of the other planes shook their noses. "Look," Regan said, "I know he sent us out on that crazy mission several years ago that had nearly gotten us killed, but he hasn't done anything since. I know you're paranoid but I thought we put that behind us."

Whitefern decided to join my side. "No, Roven's right about there being something fishy going on with Conleth. Elsayah told me about the night before Lockjaw's death."

"You wouldn't remember Lockjaw," I protested.

"No, but I know what others have told me. She said Conleth had come in that night and said something that made Lockjaw's face twist into that of horror. Nobody knows what he said but Kadesh, and now she's dead. My proof, though, isn't that, it's Lockjaw's reaction. Soomsani said that Lockjaw was trying frantically trying to say something all that night, up until his last breath."

"And how do you know this?" Regan asked.

"When I was still an apprentice they were talking about it nonstop and every healer knew about it," Whitefern shrugged. She then focused her eyes to the ground, "Deer two points north."

We all looked to see an entire herd of deer. This was strange indeed. Deer did migrate, but not so suddenly and in such a random order. We banked to the north and began a quick grab and go hunt. Due of the strange yet bountiful amount of prey we didn't need to hunt very often for the pack. We flew down and picked off a few of the deer and ate our fill.

It was Whitefern who raised her head from her deer first, "I'm confused about this."

"About what?" Regan asked.

Whitefern looked at the deer as if it were poison. "Deer don't just disappear and return like this. The twolegs had something to do with this."

"Either that or we slept longer than we were supposed to," Regan joked drily. It was no secret that he was one of the planes that could not stand going into Cold Sleep, as it was called. I was guessing that he was awake half the time, turning bored circles in the room. I wouldn't put it past him to even sneak out of the tunnels to hunt

None of us said anything for a moment as we ate. I broke the silence, "We should be getting back; sundown is soon to come." Regan finished his deer and nodded. Whitefern was still staring fearfully at her catch.

The three planes left the carcasses and took flight. They arrived at the den just in time for the sunset. Father came out with a grim frown etched out on his features. "We have received word that Lightning Pack is gone. They were taken like everyone else." Regan, Whitefern, and I struggled to grasp that Thunder Pack, River Pack, Golden River, and a few other small tribes were the only ones left. Father continued darkly, "The twolegs have not left and will not leave. They will return and we must be prepared."

Not a week later the humans found us again. The battle was fierce for a short time before both sides seemed to stop. We stared the twolegs down and they glared back. For a few precious moments there was no fighting but those moments do not last long. A single shimmering black dot shot off in the air, planting itself into a thick willow behind us. Father made one swift signal that sent us flying into their lines, tearing them apart. There was a sudden break and the twolegs ran for cover. We'd defeated them… for now, but not without losses. Blitz, Gillzar, and Regan were counting now. "Roven!" I heard Regan shriek, "Roven, come here!"

I tried to rise from being hit. My fuselage was bleeding heavily. My landing gear complained considerably and then collapsed. I was out of breath and my vision began to dim. For a split second I heard Regan yelling at me before the world turned black.

"Roven, are you okay?" I awoke to Whitefern staring into my eyes. "Please tell me this pack isn't going to lose you too."

"I-I'm… What happened?" I was in the infirmary along with three other warriors, all of which were awake with and looking at me with fear in their eyes. Regan was by Whitefern's side. He looked beyond relieved yet a gloom was in his eyes.

"You were hit just above your port wing, it hit your hydraulics and you somehow managed to land without brakes relatively easily. Your nose gear is twisted slightly and has to be reset," Whitefern said. Elsayah came up and gave a short, grim, yet approving nod.

"I have some bad news," Elsayah said with dreary light. "Your father is dead."

All of a sudden I was fully awake. I bounced up upon my landing gear only to feel a shooting pain up my nose gear. "Whoa," Whitefern said as she steadied me and made me lie down, "You are not fit to be on your wheels."

"But I can't just lay here when mother is mourning!" I tried to rise once more.

"No," Elsayah said with a surprisingly frightening snarl, "Your mother can't lose you too and right now she's close to!"

Horror lit up my eyes, "Wh-what?"

Elsayah looked down at her wheels. "I didn't mean it," she murmured, "You'll be fine."

Regan gave me a weak smile, "You have nothing to fret over. I'll keep Mother company." I looked away, unable to look my brother in the eyes. I felt, somehow, responsible for Father's death. It was too hard to believe that Regan, Azarias, Finbar, and my mother, and I were the only ones left of the royals.

I then mumbled, "Be sure to comfort Finbar and Azarias as well."

Regan's eyes went dark and I knew that something terrible had happened. "Only Azarias made it through. The twolegs captured Finbar when we escaped."

I only turned my head under my wing and stared into space. My family was being destroyed one by one. Both physical and mental pain tore through me, making its way into my soul. I felt hatred toward the twolegs rising in my belly. I let out a silent growl and swore revenge.

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><p><strong>Notes:<strong>

**I had to shorten some of what I'd planed to be the content of this story because of time issues. I hate to introduce then get rid of characters such as Finbar but it had to be done but don't worry, Finbar will return.**

**I want to thank my friend Bethany for the names Soomsani, Nakaru, and Kataleen and both my brother Evan and my mom for coming up with the name of Roven.**

**I also want to thank my friends Tori, Faith, and Jacob for helping me revise Taming Oil. I have to re-post Chapter 1 with their changes when I get to it, thanks.**

**For a final thank you I want to say thanks to my pen pal Natasha for her encouragement with this story.**


	6. Chapter 6: Banned

**MovieGirl44~ You sure do smell an oil covered rat that goes by the name of Conleth. I didn't end up using any of your names yet, but that part is coming up soon.**

**Breakaway25~ The planes here are jets, a lot like F-18s and F-22s but they don't know that other kinds of planes exist yet. And yes, I've read most of the Warriors books but it's been slow going for me.**

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><p>Chapter 6<p>

"Stop!" I screamed as Soomsani curled her lips around my injured wheel. She gave a muffled growl.

"Roven," Elsayah gasped as I struggled in her grip, "Until we get your nose gear into place you are not going to get anywhere." I clenched my teeth as the pain in my landing gear shot above tolerance level. Even Whitefern was holding steady as I sputtered unintelligible words in a steady snarl.

"Roven," Soomsani was beginning to lose patients waiting for me to stop moving. I tried to stop but my wings began to shake. "Really," Elsayah disdain in her voice, "Now!"

Soomsani pulled and for a moment I felt faint. There was a sharp pop and the pain was gone. I was winded from the experience as the healers let go. "There," Elsayah sighed, "you can get up now." I struggled to my wheels and found no pain, apart from the constant ripping ache where I'd been shot.

I spun to see Whitefern holding back a laugh. She made a disfigured sympathetic face then began to treat her mother Talca, who had fallen sick. Even Talca let a wheezing chuckle escape her throat. Regan came in, drawn by my pathetic screams of pain, with a panic stricken, beat look. He let out a breath before setting himself down. His presence made me remember what had happened.

Like a flood gate released, I found my wheels trembling as the troubles of the world beyond the tunnels came crashing back, knocking me into reality. I wanted to get out all of a sudden, to get away from the planes of Thunder Pack. Soomsani must've seen my anxious expression. "Roven, you can go out but don't stray far and come in as soon as it starts raining or your bandage will get soaked." A gave a short, grateful nod then sighed. Regan followed me out to my annoyance.

"Mother is debating on whether or not to take Conleth as a mate," I heard Regan whisper behind me.

I whirled around to face him, "What? She wants to take that oil covered deer carcass as her mate?" I was outraged.

Regan rolled back a few inches, "She's _considering_ taking Conleth as a mate. She hasn't yet. Besides, the pack _needs_ to have two leaders. If it doesn't we're going against the Leader's Code."

"Even the first planes of the forest knew more about the Leader's Code than we do and it didn't even exist," I snarled back. "No plane in their right mind would let their leader be mates with Conleth."

Regan gave me a pleading look. "Let's just fly, Roven, and… _get away from the planes that might be listening_… so we can talk." I gave a quick nod and we took off, but not without trouble. My side was giving me tiring pain and the deer hide tied around it was rubbing painfully against the raw spots. My brother twisted his head around to face me, "Okay, now you can fume all you want."

"I can't believe her," I sighed, "Mother might take Conleth to be her mate!"

"Yes," Regan said somewhat tiredly, "We've established that."

"So why is she doing it?" I wondered aloud, "That creep would kill her if he got the chance."

Regan rolled his eyes, "I'm telling you, Conleth is not that bad of a plane. Sure he's a little rude to us but that doesn't change the fact that he and Mother are doing their duty for the pack."

"Their duty?" I barked madly, "Conleth just wants power! He wants nothing else, trust me."

"Whatever let's you hunt," Regan said exasperated. "It's not like we have any say in Mother's decisions anyway."

I let it go and we flew in silence for a few moments. I felt raindrops pattering against my wings but paid no mind, even though Soomsani had told me not to stay out. Regan shot me a quick glance, obviously thinking the same as me. "The rain feels good on my wound," I answered the unspoken question.

"I don't know, Roven, I think you should listen to a healer," Regan cautioned as the rain became heavier. I gave a shrug and flew on. We heard thunder in the distance, startling and scaring Regan, yet I flew on, burning off energy I had stored up being in the infirmary. Regan began to look nervous. I knew he didn't like storms and especially didn't like flying in them but I paid no mind to my brother's feelings for once. Finally Regan spoke up, "Roven, we should be getting back." He gave an anxious glance at the storm clouds above.

I looked back at him and smiled, "Why?"

"The rain's getting heavier and a storm is coming," he said with a slight quiver in his voice.

I was not ready to face the healers' lectures, "You can go but I think I'll fly a while longer."

Regan cast a worried look at me then banked back towards home. I watched him go, hovering slightly. He disappeared within moments, just as lightning cracked the sky. This made me jump and regret going on alone. I took off after him. "Regan! Wait!" but he was already gone. I shrugged as the storm grew worse. I turned back to camp.

I was not expecting there to be no form of guarding around the entrance at all. I slipped into the tunnels and saw the two guards who were supposed to be outside hunkered down just inside of the opening. They looked at me intently, "This storm is too strong."

"To strong for guarding?" I asked. They gave guilty looks then nodded. If the strongest warriors of my pack were hunkering down, perhaps Regan was right, "Has Regan came through here yet?"

Isron, Whitefern's father, looked concerned, "Why? Did he go out in this storm with you?" I nodded. Isron looked at the other warriors, "Have you seen him?"

"No," they replied simply.

Isron just shook his head, "If we find him we'll tell you."

This made me nervous as I drove down the hall to the infirmary. Whitefern cast me an annoyed look as she saw me. "You know what Soomsani will say about this?" she hissed, "She'll have your throat once she finds out that you've been flying in this storm."

"I know," I sighed. Sure enough, Soomsani's eyes were disappointed.

"You realize how much work you are?" She shook her nose, "First your screaming as I snapped your nose gear into place, then this… this… disobedience?"

Whitefern rolled her eyes, "You can't blame a plane who's been cooped up all week."

"No matter," Soomsani snarled slightly, "he still has gone out into the rain and spoiled the herbs healing his wound." She stalked off to the other side of the cave and grabbed another hide, this time it was thicker, a bear hide. She then pulled it over to me and tore off, quite painfully, the old hide. Soomsani looked surprisingly pleased with herself when she saw me flinch. She gathered new herbs and applied them to my fuselage once more. "This should be better equipped for flight in _light_ rain." Whitefern giggled slightly.

I looked at the new bandage, "So I don't have to stay in the infirmary?"

"Correct," Soomsani said. "But I still want you to come in everyday for the next week."

I nodded and she let me go. Whitefern followed, "Do you know where Regan is?" she asked.

"Regan went with me flying," I slowly answered, "He went to return to camp before me. I haven't seen him since." Whitefern didn't look worried and that took the edge off my fretting.

"Knowing him," she started, "he probably went hunting."

"Knowing him, he probably wouldn't," I corrected, "Regan is afraid of storms." Whitefern still shrugged but her eyes told of a slight fear. I left her to lay down, my exertions of flying catching up to me.

Three days past and Regan was not to be found. Fear had settled in my belly once more.

When I awoke one morning, I found Conleth standing over me with a cross look. In his eyes flashed unmistakable evil. I turned my nose up to him groggily. "Good, you're up," he snickered, "because you have some explaining to do." He took hold of my nose cone fiercely and forced me to my wheels.

"What did I do?" I yelped as I looked down at my nose as it bled from his bite.

Conleth growled, "Where's Regan?"

"I don't know," I answered.

"Are you sure? Intel tells me that you've been out flying in a storm, when you returned Regan was gone."

I looked up at him with fire behind my eyes, "What are you accusing me of?"

"Murder," he shrugged, "or treachery, turned traitor by the twoleg."

"What?" This was impossible but Conleth didn't think so. He grabbed me once more and shoved me violently outside the tunnels.

"You're lucky I have pity on you," Conleth snarled, "You're lucky I didn't choose death for you." I only opened my mouth and tried to form words, processing what I'd just heard, but couldn't protest in time. "You will defend yourself in front of the council." He turned to the right instead of left towards an older plane's den. An unasked question ripped through the air: Why were we going here? Conleth answered, "Before the council you go to Narvelous." He led me into the largest of the elder's rooms, which normally would be buzzing with the nonchalant chatter of the elder's stories. But today only one plane was standing there.

Only Narvelous, our judge in matters such as these, was in the room. His old, scarred nose twisted around at us. Grey eyes met ours. His navy blue markings were faded as his old age caught up with him. "Conleth, why is Keeleth's son here? Has he done wrong?"

Conleth nodded, "He was the one to bring the humans and to kill his brother. He is the one I blame!" I was horrified at Conleth's accusations. Regan was only missing. He probably decided to take a longer hunting trip than usual.

Narvelous stared at us for long seconds. When he spoke his voice sounded raw, "He has done no wrong. He is a coward though, I've seen it in him before, but there is no need to punish there."

"He is the one responsible for all of this and I have proof."

Narvelous watched Conleth fume calmly, "You come to me and here's my ruling: innocent. If you want a different answer you can come to me with a different plane… or ask me a different question."

Conleth's eyes went red. "Your ruling is not reliable nor needed anymore, Narvelous," Conleth raged, "You are relieved of duty." Conleth pounced upon the old warrior with bared teeth. Narvelous had no time to respond, he was down with a deep bite in his neck. Oil dripped off of Conleth's lip as he watched the judge die.

Narvelous, though, did not look rattled or afraid, he looked maddened, "My ruling is: guilty. You should have never been called leader… You killed Covan, I saw you. You knew that Keeleth would pick you if Covan died. Goodbye… killer… murderer…" Narvelous snapped weakly at Conleth, only grazing his body enough to draw oil.

Conleth growled and gave Narvelous a vicious bite leaving him dead. I couldn't believe that Conleth had betrayed his pack while he was leader. Conleth was going to be the death of the pack if nobody stopped him. I couldn't let that happen. "I'll expose you!" I roared to his face.

A sly smile crept around his nose, "Not if I expose _you_ first." He dashed off in seemingly genuine panic. "Murderer! Narvelous is dead, as is Regan!" I stood there in shock as the few planes left gathered in another of our larger rooms. I couldn't help but to hear the terrible shouts and outraged roars I was receiving as several large warriors herded me into the council room. After not even five minutes there was the whole pack crowded in the room with me, Conleth, and my mother at the front. Conleth pushed me into the crowd which scattered from the spot I was standing. "I give you Roven," Conleth shouted, "the murderer of many!" Angry cries erupted from the pack. "He killed Narvelous, countless pack members, and even his own brother, Regan. And for what, I ask, did he do this for? I know because he, just before this meeting, tried to kill me as well." Conleth turned to show his small, Narvelous made wound to the pack. They gasped and snapped angrily at me again. "He wants power! For all I know, he could have killed his own mother as well. I would have been lost if not for Narvelous. The brave soul sacrificed his life for mine, taking the bite that was meant for me. My pack, my brethren, if you know what's right, you will banish this creature lower than dirt. I have made my ruling as has Narvelous. He was about to say "guilty" and this cruel creature attacked. If he, the murderer, would like a chance to speak," Conleth was in tears, "then let him. But heed my words: this rough deserves not to be in a pack but alone, like those we have banished before." Cheering angry agreement, the pack closed in on me before I could speak.

"Enough!" My mother screamed, "This is not a fair judging if the accused does not speak." She looked at me as if I had broken her heart. She believed Conleth and if I did not sway her, it would be the end of me.

I rolled forward, "My pack… um, if you believe Conleth, I wouldn't blame you but what you'll see, if you look close enough, is that it is really my accuser who killed Narvelous. As for my brother, Regan, you know that neither of us would possibly hurt one another. It was not me that killed him. The storm only sent him as missing. I let him go before me… without me…"

"So you did kill him! Things may have turned out differently if you would have stayed by his side," Conleth screeched.

I wanted to bite him but tried not to let his words get to me, "…I know that I shouldn't have left him, but I'm sure he's fine! Where is your proof?"

Conleth laughed, "My proof? My proof? My proof is that you killed Narvelous. I wouldn't put it past you to kill your brother as well. Nobody has seen him for a whole day."

"Well," I growled, "I accuse you! You killed Narvelous, that's his oil on your chin. Face it, you're selfish, low-down, and you only care about power and yourself. You would sacrifice the whole pack if you had to!" The few elders who had made it past the fighting nodded in agreement but still those who agreed with me were far less than those who didn't.

"Roven," my mother choked on the words, "I cannot deny that you have killed Narvelous but I cannot confirm that you have killed Regan… I hereby banish you from the pack. If you are seen within our territory by sunrise tomorrow you will be an intruder and killed. You are a disgrace to our pack and will not be seen as a member, friend, warrior, or even family to this pack again. You will be classified as an… enemy to this pack." She held back her tears as she thought she was doing what was best for her pack. She jumped down from her stage and nudged me out the tunnel. "You know I wouldn't do this if I had a choice. I believe you; I really do, but with Conleth and most of the other pack members disagreeing… I can't let you stay."

"Mother, I know you're doing what you think is right. I'll go," I turned away from her and mumbled, "If you believed me, you wouldn't have Conleth as your mate." I did not look back as I ran. I was too shaken to know where I was going or what to do. I would not have prey brought to me from the hunt tonight. I was alone and vulnerable. If I was to survive with the twolegs around, I had to join or make a pack and, right now, that seemed unlikely.

I spent the rest of the day searching for an abandoned cave or tunnel. I found an old abandoned camp but the airplane scent was still fresh. I concluded that the scent was from a rival pack that had recently been attacked. Oil stained the grass but no bodies were to be seen. I passed over one pot that had so much oil that whoever once laid there had to have died. A chill passed over me as I realized how close the twolegs were. They could be lurking around the area now, waiting for me to move in. But even in the desperate state I was in, I was not going to choose a home where murder took place. I glanced around me once more before deciding, still, to investigate and slipped into one of the tunnels. Nothing seemed to have taken place in here, not a drop of oil or piece of metal to hint any fighting. I explored deeper, the light fading from the entrance. My eyes slowly adjusted into night vision and I was shocked to what I saw. Three young hatchlings huddled in a bend in the tunnel. A large female plane lay next to them with her eyes closed and breathing shallow. Her breath was fetid smelling and her markings on her back were dull. She opened one eye as I crept closer. She gently nudged the hatchlings toward me, staring at me with fear for her young in her eye. I knew I could not care for them but still pushed the hatchlings under me, protectively next to my nose gear like my father used to do. She sighed before going limp and closing her eyes for the last time.

I couldn't help but feel responsible for these hatchlings now that they were orphaned but being so vulnerable myself, I didn't know what to do. They now pressed their wings against my nose gear in fear and hunger. "I won't let you down," I promised more to myself than them. I had to hide them and hunt or there would be no chance of survival.

I knew the hatchlings would not leave their den unless I forced them so I left them there to hunt. I hoped that this ground was not part of any packs' territory. Twisting my head to scan the ground under me, I spotted two large bucks sparing for a doe. I hungrily licked my lips in anticipation of the meat. Being alone, bringing down both of the bucks would be a challenge but I knew that if I were to keep my strength up and feed the hatchlings I would have no choice. Taking down the deer with a pack would be simple, but not now. Now I could only deal with one at a time and during mating season for the bucks they would have no thoughts. They would wildly charge through anything that got in their way. Their large antlers and bulk would be a challenge to get around. I landed lightly in the woods around the clearing. The trees were just thick enough to hide my movements without my wings hitting branches and trunks. I crept quietly toward my prey, trying to concentrate on the job at hand. Each time I heard the loud _CRACK_ as the deer hit each other I jumped. The noise unnerved me, reminding me vaguely of the twolegs' weapons. I finally sprung forward and grabbed tightly the neck of the largest buck. The antlers of the two deer locked and the second was dragged down with his opponent. I heard the snapping of bones as I bit harder. I dropped the struggling buck and lunged toward the second. This one thought enough to try to use his horns. I easily dodged them. This gave me an advantage of hitting him hard with my wing. He stumbled and I tried to jump onto him. I missed by a hair.

The deer scrambled to his feet and ran. I attempted one last time to kill the buck by slamming into him. I prevailed. I snapped the animal's neck before dragging my kill to the tunnel entrance. The hunt was a victory but it would not sustain us long. Hatchlings grew fast and needed to eat and in order to hunt for them, I needed to hunt for myself. I pushed the hatchlings to the prey and they eagerly tore apart the buck. I hungrily gorged down my deer and felt strength flooding back into my body. The hunt had distracted me from the deaths and events that had happened. For a time I even forgot I was a rogue. By the time we had finished it was nightfall. We slipped into the tunnels, steering clear of the room where the female lay. I needed sleep, I knew that, but sleep would be hard to come. The hatchlings curled up next to me, nestling under my wing. I sighed; I couldn't keep them safe for long. These tunnels weren't safe and I didn't know how long it would be before my luck for finding food ran dry. Today was a stroke of luck. I wouldn't have gotten both deer if their antlers wouldn't have locked. I wondered how I was to survive. With the twolegs so close that I could smell their faint scent and enemy packs and rogues at every turn, who knew what would happen. I turned my head to the young planes and lay my head down. I watched them sleep until my eyes closed and I entered a restless slumber.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves of the trees, scattering light across the young planes' bodies. They playfully chased one another ahead of me. I wished I could keep them quiet and at my side where no other creature could see them. Taking these hatchlings with me was dangerous but in these circumstances there was no choice. It was find food, water, and shelter or face death as a loner. I scanned the woods around me; nothing was familiar neither in sight nor in scent. I did, however, smell something promising. I could smell a herd of deer. Luckily, the smallest of the hatchlings had caught a squirrel, a rare catch for even the fastest of planes. For a hatchling, a squirrel was a delicacy that could never be passed up. It was full of nutrients that gave the hatchlings energy.

I then thought of his name: Enstryke. He was the smallest in the clutch and the fastest. The name meant small and fast. That is how he got his name. It was Enstryke that first found the plane. She was stalking the herd. Her strange, black body, with almost star like patterns down her nose vexed me. She had a blunter nose and only one vertical stabilizer. She flashed a signal to another plane. His strong looking body and bright blue stripes made him look like a warrior. He relayed the signal to a third plane. This one was a small female with interesting green swirls curling up and around her wings. Her markings faded into brown which faded into her black body. I hung back watching. I knew that this could be the chance I had been waiting for. They looked like a small hunting patrol for a large, strong pack. If I could join them my problems could be solved. Only if I executed my plan perfectly would they accept me. If not, I could be injured or even killed. There was a large reward but a bigger risk. I pushed the hatchlings back and backed away. The risk could be the end of the hatchings, the end of Enstryke, the end of me. I wasn't ready to take that chance. I couldn't risk the lives of my young companions just to find a pack. I turned my back on this chance and turned my attention to finding food and shelter.

The day was ending soon and we had had no luck with prey and shelter was not to be found. My hunger was weakening me. I was not yet used to going without food for more than a day like some of the strongest warriors and lowest pack members. Oh, to be in a pack again. My thoughts made my hope drain from me. I remembered once again that I was a rough, packless and living on only luck. Most of my family was gone and my mother was required by the leader's code that she could not consider me as family. I once again scanned the terrain in vain to see nothing but trees.

Night came on fast as the winter returned. We had curled up together in-between two fallen trees. The trees provided us protection from the wind but not from the general cold. Although the leaves one the trees had not yet fallen the cold was coming on fast. None of us got much sleep.

Frost dusted everything in sight, making the world seem like crystal. The sun was up but warmth had not returned. I nosed the hatchlings to wake them. Enstryke and Sorreltail stirred and opened their eyes but the third hatchling, Isrock, was still. His red wavy stripes on his tail were dull and frost covered his tiny body. He had not made it through the night. The cold and hunger together had taken him down. I rested my nose gently on his lifeless body. "I'm sorry," I cried. "I've failed you. May you live happily in the eternal sky young one." Sorreltail cautiously approached her dead sibling. Her flaps were lowered as she nudged him. She cocked her head before trying again. After trying again for a third time she looked at me confused. I gently picked her up and pushed her gently away from Isrock. I turned away from him and sharp, painful memories of Regan flooded into my mind, was he alive? "I'm sorry, Isrock…" I looked up at the overcast sky, "Take care of him, Greatwings." I knew that Greatwings was in control, and I trusted him but I couldn't help but feel like he had abandoned Isrock. "I know you have a plan. Just take care of him."

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><p><strong>Notes:<strong>

**I know this is coming fast but I need to get closer to the climax or else I'll go crazy.**


	7. Chapter 7: Lightning Pack

**Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. I had writers block with this at one point. Thankfully, I just started typing another one-shot but all I could think of was this. I hope you like it.**

**MovieGirl44~ Sorry I couldn't update as quickly as I wanted to, but I'm glad you like how it's coming. Just think, though, Isrock is in a better place, one without hunger and where Covan and Greatwings can take care of him forever loving him.**

**Grumman Tomcat~ I'd love to see another story like this if you ever write one and I'm glad I've inspired you with this story. As for what will happen next, you'll just have to find out.**

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><p>Chapter 7<p>

It had been three hard days since Isrock's death. Food was scarce and we still had not found shelter. The days were shortening and the nights colder. I was fearful of losing one of the hatchlings as I had Isrock. I had promised myself that I'd find a home, a pack, or somewhere safe for them, no matter what. Every night it was the same fear and in morning there was always the fear of being spotted by the twolegs. Their scent was getting stronger every day.

We were never satisfied from our hunger, only tortured by it. When I did make a kill, it tended to be small, unsubstantial, and weakened. While hunger gnawed at our tanks, winter set in. The small flurries of snow turned to freezing, snow filled winds. The golden, red, and amber leaves fell to the ground and were buried. The deer grew thin, the smaller prey hid in their burrows. We were forced to hunt in open areas, free from cover, a good place to be spotted. And today was a day like that.

The hunt today looked promising for once. An entire herd of deer were up for the taking. A few were injured and limping at the back, perfect candidates for prey. I was tense as I forced myself not to spring before the right moment. I crept forward, closer and closer to my choice of deer. I was only a few feet away from my prey before I heard a noise. The deer heard it too. A dark blue and black warrior, the one we had seen yesterday, jumped out of hiding and snapped down a deer before chasing the herd. Another plane I hadn't seen before jumped out and, together, the two turned the herd where I guessed an ambush waited. I shrieked; the herd was being turned toward where the hatchlings were hidden. I burst out faster than lightning and streaked toward them. A grabbed Sorreltail and dashed to where she'd be safe. "Enstryke!" I yelped as I watched helplessly as the herd pounded blindly over the spot where I had hid him. "No! I can't let another one of you die! Enstryke!" I stood in shock, staring at the deer as they trampled anything down in their path. Finally I got up to leave, unable to see more death after that which I had witnessed already.

"Wait, I think you forgot someone," a voice sounded behind me. I turned around and saw the black she-plane with the star-like pattern standing with Enstryke safely in her jaws. I sighed with such relief that I couldn't believe it. I ran over and took him from her mouth and into mine. I set him down and ran my tough over him. Not a scratch was on his body. She smiled, "Sorry if we're in your pack's territory."

"You don't have a pack?" I asked, shocked. They seemed like a small group of warriors on a hunting patrol collecting fresh-kill for a larger pack.

"No, our pack is gone," she lowered her head, "the humans attacked and… we're all that's left."

I looked at her and had an idea, "I'm also alone. Maybe I could join your group?"

The warrior pulled up behind her with a deer in his jowls, "You cangk het an hkranger inko ka kack ike at." He said with his mouth full.

"No one can understand you with your mouth full, Coryn," the she-plane said.

The plane dropped his kill, "You can't just let a rogue into our pack. Starlight, you can't let him in."

Starlight rolled her eyes. "Do you think there is much choice? Our group needs to grow and why would he be caring for some hatchlings if he was dangerous?"

I was hardly listening to the conversation. I turned my head to the new found allies. "Thank you so much," I said still panting, "I was sure he was gone. How did you save him?"

Starlight swelled with pride, "I heard your call over the herd's pounding."

I was relived beyond measure, "How can I repay you?"

Starlight tilted her head to one side. "I suppose you could join us. I'm sure you and your hatchlings would be safer in a group where someone could always be watching."

I nodded; this could be a good chance to join a pack without having a fear of being killed. Besides, she was offering to take him in, "These aren't my own. I found them. Their mother was dying from sickness."

"But you'll join?" She questioned, not caring about my past.

"Yes, I'd love to."

The plane called Coryn shook his nose in disapproval. "You can't let a stranger into the pack, he could be dangerous."

Before anyone had time to respond, another warrior with a pure white body and two black rings around each of his vertical stabilizers pulled up. I could sense that he was a seasoned warrior and wise judge. He had an air around him that I only felt when I was near Narvelous. He dropped the deer in his mouth and slipped two off of his wings. "A new pack member," he said in a deep voice, "One wrongly accused and banned from his pack." I started; he was almost exactly like Narvelous in every way other than looks.

All the others seemed shocked as they stared their elder down with puzzled expressions. He only stared back at them. Finally Starlight spoke, "If we want our prey to taste fresh by the time we eat it then we should get back to camp."

"Thant would be a good idea," a new, quiet, female voice said behind them. She pulled into view with the dark blue marked warrior. She was the she-plane I'd seen hunting in the woods. She carried a deer on her back. She gently picked up Enstryke and rolled away. Starlight pulled in front of her and signaled the small group to follow her. Coryn cast a doubtful glance at me before picking up his kill and leaving with the rest of his pack. I lifted Sorreltail up and kept just close enough to see Coryn's dark red rudders flicking with annoyance. We traveled just north of my old pack's territory and up a hill. We were faced with a tremendously tall cliff. I came to a halt as, one after another, the pack disappeared into the face of the cliff. I scanned the rock for any kind of passageway but found nothing. Suddenly, Coryn's nose seemed to stick straight out of a crooked rock. He popped out of a narrow spacing, just large enough for an undersized warrior to squeeze through. The rock hid the entrance well enough so that, unless you were standing at an exact angle, the cave could not be seen. He motioned with his nose for me to follow.

I squeezed through the entrance and into the dark tunnel. I winced as my wings scraped against the sides of the cave. "The tunnel is small so you're going to want to fold your wings," Coryn laughed helpfully. My wingtips stung as they folded up, I couldn't help whimpering. Coryn's stripes glowed in the dark eerily. I'd never seen that before. He sensed my questions. "I'm guessing you're wondering about my stripes glowing. I honestly don't know why. I can control their intensity too. Watch," he let his stripes dull then flash brightly, blinding me.

The tunnel widened out so that I could stretch my wings again. The air was damp and heavy here. I could see the other planes slipping into still another room with their kill. They came out again with only the largest, most recently killed deer. The she-plane carrying Enstryke now held a large doe. For a minute I panicked before realizing that he was following close behind her, snapping at the dangling legs of the deer. She looked up at me, "Can I help you?"

Enstryke rolled over to me, and licked the tip of my nose happily. I didn't care about this and grimaced, "No, at least I don't think."

She chuckled, "I think you need prey. You look thin."

I tried to look at myself but failed. I did notice that my typically bright blue stripes were dull and splattered with oil and blood where my prey had been lucky enough to pierce through my body in an attempt to get away from my jaws. "I do," I couldn't lie, I was in bad shape.

The female plane pushed her deer over to me and left, only turning her head once, "My name's Ethra. You're welcome for the deer."

I dug into my prey, gulping down huge chunks of the still warm meat. Enstryke and Sorreltail joined. They were just as eager to calm their growling tanks.

The deer was finished in what seemed to be seconds. All that was left were the few scraps of meat hiding in the stripped skeletal remains. I licked my lips, cleaning them of the blood that had splattered across them. Already I felt stronger, as if I could go on. In truth, I felt as if I could collapse and sleep like a hatchling. I almost chuckled at my own thought, especially when I looked at the two remaining hatchlings nearly falling asleep on top of each other. I heard a slight laugh, "They should go to the hatchery." It was Starlight, the leader of this small group of planes. "And you should go to the warrior's den."

I looked around, my night vision illuminating every tunnel in the place. There were far too few to hide the other planes, even for their shire size. "Alright, that would probably be good for me to do."

"Follow me," she said, flicking an aileron for me to follow. As she turned, the white spots spiraling down her nose sparkled like stars. It was odd as for a split second they looked like the whirl of stars some of the elders in Thunder Pack used to talk about and sketch in the mud on rainy days. They always told of the legend of Caracallum when he faced the twolegs, was killed, and came back to life with extraordinary tales of the universe in his head. Hearing Starlight exclaim, "Here we are!" snapped me out of my daydream of the past.

We had come to an offshoot of a tunnel within the main tunnel. This offshoot was not large at all. Only a very small plane would fit. That plane happened to be Ethra, who poked her nose out to see who it was, "Oh, it's you. Pass me the hatchlings and I'll get them situated."

I did as I was told, telling her the names of both as I passed them into her gentle jaws. She set them into the darkness of her shadow at a point unable to be seen. I then yawned, my heavy meal catching up to me. Starlight chuckled, "Tired, are we?"

Ethra giggled along, "I suppose so. Starlight, you should take him to the stream and then to the warriors den, after, of course, showing him around."

She nodded, "That was my plan." She flicked her ailerons again and we moved off, my frame sagging closer and closer to the ground as exhaustion set in. "Come on, lazy frame," Starlight said almost sharply, "We don't have all day."

We backtracked to the main branch of the tunnel and took another offshoot. This one opened up to a large cavern, stalagmites and stalactites raising up and falling down from the cave roof and floors. Along with that, glowworms clustered together in small bundles here and there, their light reflecting off of the small, sparkling crystals of quarts above and below. The most amazing thing, though, was the pool and streams running to and from it. The light of the crystals above reflected down onto it, covering it in a star like array of twinkling lights, which also bounced off the smooth, damp walls. I gaped at it all. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before.

"We call it the cavern of stars," Starlight explained, her sleek, black body fitting right in with the surroundings. "This is the place where we bath, and you certainly need to."

I only looked at her blankly. I could not imagine bathing in such clear waters, making it murky with my filth. She, like the white warrior, could tell what I was thinking, and feeling. "The streams that run from it take away the grime. They will clear the pool in seconds. That is why we also use it for drinking and healing. Now, if you will please get in. Like I said, I have much to do and little time to waste on you."

I slunk into the water, dunking my nose under and splashing the cool water over my back. It was glorious, the feeling of the perfectly clean water. I felt far less like an outcast by the time I got out. She nodded but did not say anything as she turned to show me around once more. We came to another part of the cave, this part warm with fire. I was immediately afraid of the place. Fire never meant any good in my life. The blue marked warrior, along with Coryn, lay there, eating deer and chatting lazily. It looked comfortable enough.

"This is the dining room," she explained. I did not know what a dining room was but, once again, I didn't have to ask, "the place where we typically eat. It's also often times used as a cooking room, as you can see the fire." She looked at me with a calm expression, "Do not worry, it's contained. We, Lightning Pack, have learned from the twolegs. We have learned how to control fire, as long as we keep it burning. It is good for many things, but can also be used as a weapon." I nodded vacantly, this group was odd and amazing, that was for sure.

She left the room and the two planes resting nodded in respect as she turned. I turned right behind her. "There are many more rooms to explore but you need rest and our pack needs protection. I don't have enough time to show you around any longer for now." She turned into a room flickering with another fire. The white warrior was curled nose under wing in front of it. "This is where you, and the rest of the pack, will sleep."

"Thank you," I said, lying down on my belly, "for accepting me."

"You're welcome," she said with a leader's tone, "What was your name?"

"Roven," I replied. I liked her, but she didn't seem to care about me. She thought me as a tool to help her pack survive, nothing more.

"Well, Roven, I'll see you in the morning. That's when you'll officially become a member of Lightning Pack."

I drifted off to sleep, wondering how the proud Lightning Pack had diminished to such a small size, how they controlled fire, and how they had learned from the twolegs. I yawned one last time before giving myself to the peaceful blackness of sleep.

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><p><strong>Notes:<strong>

**I want to thank everyone who gave me names. They are going to come in handy very soon, maybe even next chapter soon.**

**Enstryke and Sorreltail want to give MovieGirl44 a hug, they know Isrock's dead but they also know he's in a better place. A place where Greatwings rules and the air currents allow him to fly forever without tiring. :')**


	8. Chapter 8: Llegar's Hatchlings

**For everyone, I'm so sorry this has taken this long to come out. I'm not the best at things like fluff so this chapter I struggled with, which may be why it is not my best. I apologize for any inconveniences and accidents ahead of time in this chapter.**

**Grumman Tomcat~ I'm glad you like my characters, as I have taken quite some time in developing them and their past. You'll also be happy to know that I've used your name Linna for this chapter.**

**MovieGirl44~ Just read on to find out some about Lightning Pack, hopefully you'll like it. I have also taken one of your names: Silentwing.**

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><p>Chapter 8<p>

I opened my eyes, at first confused at where I was. The one of the cave's stalactites was dripping onto my nose. I shook my head to snap out of my befuddled daze, whipping it from side to side with jolting motions.

"Keep it down, will you?" a voice snarled from somewhere beside me. I stopped to look in the voice's direction but only made out a blurry line of a forest plane. "Thank you," he said again, "Thunder Pack," he snorted, "never considerate."

"Coryn," a female voice said this time, "by telling him to quiet down, you woke me up!"

Yet another plane joined in the conversation, "You can say that again, Linna."

"All right, all right," the first voice, Coryn, groaned, "Are you trying to make it worse?"

"In all of Bolder Clan!" the voice named Linna exclaimed, "Will you stuff a deer in it?"

"Come on, Linna, let's go," said the still unnamed voice quietly.

"Ethra," Linna replied, "I thought you'd never ask." With that hustling could be heard as the two planes made their way out of the den. I decided to join them.

The two planes, as I had suspected, were females. One was Ethra and the other, the one I assumed was Linna, I had not yet seen. Her frame was even smaller than Ethra's and marred with bullet holes and scratches. They looked recent and raw, but attended to. Her tail was wrapped in deer hide to hide what lay beneath. Over all, she had almost pink markings that spun into a dark maroon. They twisted in intricate designs along the edges of her wings and what wasn't covered by bandages on her tail. The two planes were deep in discussion. I hung back and listened. Perhaps, if I were lucky, I could come to know more about the fate of Lightning Pack.

"The hatchlings," Linna said in a soft whisper, "They were of Llegar's brood."

Ethra dipped her nose to meet the smaller plane's eyes, "They are your kin then."

"Indeed," she began to scan the edges of the cave, resting her eyes on me and lowering her voice to an even quieter level so that I might not hear. She then smiled sweetly, but with suspicion in her eyes. "You must be the plane from Thunder Pack?"

"I am," I said, dipping my nose in a polite nod. It was odd, yielding to a plane half my size. "My name's Roven."

"Ah," Linna said with a snort, "Thunder Pack always gave their hatchlings odd names." Odd names? I thought my name perfectly normal… but when I thought about it, never did a plane in the pack have the same name. She must've seen the look of pondering in my eye. "I suppose you're thinking: What's my name. Well, it's Linna, spelt with a double N."

I was lost as soon as she said 'N'. The planes of my pack never learned to spell as hatchling, which was something only the elders did when they wanted to keep things away from even the leaders. They said it was passed down from the first forest planes, along with the ability to write and count. This was only a piece to deepen the mystery of Lightning Pack even more.

"The hatchlings you brought, the ones named Enstryke and Sorreltail; they are the offspring of one of our warriors. You did a favor by bringing them back." Ethra explained what they were talking about earlier. "Unfortunately…" she trailed off and seemed reluctant to say more. She gave a look of question to Linna, who gave an unobtrusive shake of her nose.

"Whose hatchlings are they?" I asked, now curious to as who they really were.

"Llegar's," Ethra answered immediately. Linna gave a look of scorn to her but this I did not catch. I was too busy in thought to notice the details of their statures. Llegar was a name I had heard among the stories of the elders. He was a plane with powers almighty, some say he was the reincarnation of Greatwings himself. Of course, that was an old tale and hardly reliable. It was also said that Llegar could only use his powers in the most deadly of circumstances and seemed normal all other times.

Starlight, at that very moment came in, "He's not that Llegar if you are wondering, which you are." I started at her sudden appearance, having a black fuselage helped in slipping in and out of shadows. "We can meet him if you please. He, after all, will be glad to see his hatchlings safe and alive," she gave an angered glance back in the direction of Ethra and the sleek she-plane rolled away in a rudder flick. Linna drove off with her head high in victory as she followed Ethra. Something told me the two small planes didn't get along very well. Starlight, as soon as they were out of ear shot, sighed. "Never, ever keep them together if it can be helped. Too bad they are the only ones capable of caring for the orphaned hatchlings." She then rolled off, motioning me to follow.

We came to one of the rooms not yet familiar to me a few offshoots off the dining room. This cavern was wide and roomy with small holes along the ceiling lighting up the room with the golden rays of dawn. Still, a fire brightened the dim areas of the scene. I stayed well away from the hot, flickering flames. _Any moment now_, I thought, _they're going to jump out of their boundary and take this cave and turn it into dust_. Although I hadn't been in any deadly situation dealing with fire, I had heard that planes had died in fiery infernos many times before. I didn't want to think about those rumors at the moment.

Instead, I focused on the plane that sat in the middle of the room, staring vacantly at the wall. His body, like Linna's, was blemished with scars. They were bullet holes, the typical wounds of pack battles, and odd, vertical lines running, and sometimes slightly crisscrossing each other. The thin lines almost created a pattern but did not quite, as if he had been struggling strategically against something. If the scars of struggles and battles weren't enough to make you wonder, his color was. He was flat out silver, nothing more, nothing less, except for a few odd markings that looked drawn onto each side of his nose. They looked familiar, as if I had seen them before.

Starlight approached him slowly, from the front but gave him a wide girth. She was being cautious but I wasn't so sure why. "Llegar," she said softly, "Llegar, I have some good news."

The plane turned his head but his eyes were mist. He seemed far away and unable to be reached. I was surprised when he responded, "The humans have left? That would be real news, Star."

"No," Starlight replied sadly, "but we've got the next best thing. Your hatchlings are alive!"

This snapped the plane out of his daydreaming state, "What?"

"Roven," Starlight motioned with a wing to me, "found your hatchlings, alive and well."

Llegar adopted a hopeful expression but still his eyes were distant, "What of Silentwing?" Starlight looked to me for help. I only shrugged, if I had known what the plane looked like, perhaps I could have answered.

Starlight's eyes grew sad, "She was ill, Roven, chances are she wouldn't have made it very far for very long."

Hearing this news, the blank eyed plane deflated, crawling up and hiding almost like a turtle. Then he asked, his voice shaking and higher pitched, "Where did you find the hatchlings? How did you find them?"

I told them the story of the dying female plane, and how there were three. I also told them about Isrock's death. Llegar's nose just kept dropping lower and lower until it was only inches above the ground. It was like watching my mother being told about the death of my father, or that of Kadesh or Lockjaw. It was depressing just being near them. When I finished Llegar turned his head slowly towards Starlight, "That was Silentwing. She's dead…" the hurting plane's blank eyes sparked to life for seconds, flashing red, "They killed her. The humans killed her, like the hundreds of planes they have captured! They are to be slaughtered!"

Starlight tried desperately to calm the warrior down, "Llegar, we know. We won't let any harm come to the pack."

"But we will let all the rest of plane-kind die at the hands of the humans?" he screeched, "We will let them do to the innocent what they did to me? I was lucky, Star! That's all I was: lucky! It could have been me!" By now this sounded like nonsense from my point of view. I hung back as Llegar raged on, "I won't let any other forest plane be tortured in that way!"

Starlight suddenly flung her nose under his as he rammed into a wall uncontrollably. She caught him before he lost his balance. "Llegar, we know what is happening. We know the twolegs…"

"Humans," he corrected.

"Yes, alright, humans. We know the humans have been torturing and killing off plane-kind but we aren't strong enough to fly into battle."

"I am," the plane snarled, this time now facing me. His blank eyes were directed towards me, like bullets of the twolegs, "I'll fight and die if I have to. They have to be free."

Starlight nodded as if the comment had been directed to her, which it seemed like it was. "I will do my best but can promise nothing," she said in a cool, even tone. I had to hand it to her, she could make a compromise.

Llegar calmed down, the raging storm of words now a controlled shower of rain. "Yes, Starlight, that will do." He still held a flare, "And bring the hatchlings when you come back. If I can't have Silentwing, I'll have my hatchlings, and my revenge."

"I can't promise you revenge at the moment, like I said," Starlight said softly with a respectful nod, "but I can bring the hatchlings. I can't say they can come out for long, you'd have to clear that with Linna and Ethra."

It was Llegar's turn to give a curt nod of thanks, "I will." But he did not give this nod to the leader, but to me. Somehow, he must have thought I was her, a shocking predicament as I was much larger and a male plane. I wondered for the first time if this plane had poor eyesight, but that was impossible. The planes of the forest, at least those that I had heard of, all had amazing sight. Most had night vision sight, and others had stripes to light up, as I had discovered. Even they, though, must have had good eyesight to see very far ahead of them.

Starlight interrupted my thoughts with a knock to the wing. "Come on, Roven, we have to retrieve the hatchlings." She made her way out of the cave, there was only a trace of fear in her eyes, but even that was surprising. "Llegar is our eldest warrior, or at least that's what he says."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, he is still a warrior, even though he's blind and the twolegs have taken his toll on him. He arrived at our pack just before it was attacked. He was captured. We hadn't seen him for days upon days. Almost an entire moon passed before he returned."

"Moon?" I asked aloud, "What's that, or what do you mean by that?"

Starlight rolled her eyes, "This just proves you come from the deep forest. A moon is about a month in your tongue. If you want to live here, you're going to have to learn our words." I didn't respond, embarrassed that I didn't remember that Lightning Pack had their own language. I tried to think back to what the elders had said when I was younger.

"A moon is a month, friskakill is fresh kill, flashnbooms are storms, and… let's see, to be called a plane from the dark forest is an insult to less knowledgeable planes."

Starlight's face lit up with shock, "Friskakill? We haven't used that one for a while, but Llegar uses it still. That's a start, dark forest plane, but there are still what you'd call 'crazy' terms to learn."

"And what do you call crazy?" I asked as we drove down the offshoot back to the hatchery.

"We call it bonkers, absolutely bonkers," she responded with a laugh. Then she grew serious, her eyes cold once more, "But what's bonkers is the humans." Once again I was stupefied at her terms, giving her a look of confused stupor. "Sorry, new term for twolegs," Starlight explained without looking my way, "they've gone like rabid squirrels, I tell you. They've got planes on their side, all of them looking like Llegar."

"I've heard that planes have joined them, but they've never come to the forest."

Starlight's eyes grew troubled and distant, "Then you're lucky. Linna was nearly killed by one."

At this point I interrupted, "Linna said that she was kin of Sorreltail and Enstryke. Is that supposed to mean anything?"

"Linna is Llegar's daughter," Starlight explained, "Llegar was captured to save her. She could have been killed."

I desperately wanted more details. I wanted to learn how they came to harness the power of fire, or how the mighty pack had come to rest its landing gear here, as a small group. The great Lightning Pack was now hardly more than a tribe, a shadow of its former self. This planted a fear for Thunder Pack deep inside me. Could every pack come to this? How could it be stopped? I needed to know, for the with fear came doubt and doubt was a luxury nobody could afford to use. "I hope I'm not intruding," I knew, though, that I was, "but how did Lightning Pack fall?"

Starlight's eyes grew wild with rage, all her flaps rising as if a switch had been thrown, indeed, one might have as well been. A growl escaped her throat, and her fury was barely contained, "Lighting Pack has not fallen." She said these words so fiercely that I rolled back, "shame on you to think so."

I lowered my nose, respectively waiting for her teeth scrape the top of my nose. I had crossed the line, and this was my punishment. I braced for it, but it never came. I finally risked looking up, something that in my pack would have been extremely disrespectful.

"What are you cowering there for?" she snarled, but not unkindly, "Did you do something to offend me? Did you think I was the leader of Lightning Pack?"

I gasped audibly, if she wasn't the leader, Lightning Pack was impressively odd. I nodded.

"I might be in spirit, but Vylocity is in flesh, many might consider me the Super Alpha, but I am not." She almost chuckled as my shocked expression grew into one of confusion. "No, Roven, I am not who you think I am. I am the daughter of Vylocity." Then her eyes grew dark with fearful light, something I thought was never to occur with her, "Vylocity was taken by the humans." She then looked away, mouth forming into a growl, teeth glistening in what little light there was in the cave. "This is Lightning Pack's fall, in that we are leaderless."

"But you're the rightful heir, aren't you?"

"I am," she admitted, "but Vylocity is not dead. Captured is far worse than death, and the first planes of the forest did not plan for this in their code. They lived effortlessly, it seems."

I shook my nose, had Starlight not heard the tale of Sorcanar, the plane who had tried to rule the forest? I shivered as I remembered Conleth, I had gladly forgotten about him in my haste of finding Lightning Pack and taking care of the hatchlings I had found, now a chill ran down my back. Conleth was somehow connected to the twolegs, or humans.

Starlight looked at me, her green eyes piercing through me as if looking at my thoughts, "What are you shaking our nose for?"

"Sorcanar, the first evil," I whispered, for it was said that his mane was a curse if said in certain circumstances, "he was the problem of the first planes."

"That old myth is a tale of impossibility," Starlight huffed scornfully, "Sorcanar was a tale invented to scare hatchlings into doing what they're told." Many she-planes, including my own mother, used such words as 'Sorcanar still lurks in the shadows and will get you if you misbehave' to strike fear into hatchlings. I admit, in my early days, these sayings worked.

Just then Ethra poked her nose out of the hatchery and smiled with an amused light in her eyes, "Oh, Sorcanar is real, all right. He's here in the form of a human." But there was truth to her words, if ever there was a Sorcanar lurking upon us he was in the form of the humans. Ethra was joking, though, "So, what can I do you for?"

"Llegar's hatchlings," Starlight responded briskly, "Enstryke and Sorreltail."

Ethra's nose disappeared behind the blackness of the small cave and returned only a moment later carrying Enstryke lightly in her jaws. Sorreltail was asleep, Ethra said, and she thought they should come back later. After some persuasion from Starlight, Ethra took Sorreltail out as well. The little plane was looking rather tetchy at being woken up. "Good luck with her," Ethra snorted. She slipped out of the blackness of the hole and looked at Starlight with sad eyes; a message seemed to pass between the caretaker and leader. It must have been a terrible one, because for a few moments Starlight's eyes were flickering dully.

Starlight took Sorreltail up in her mouth and drove off, only leaving after giving a nod to Ethra of dismissal. I took up Enstryke and followed.

By the time we reached Llegar, the huge warrior was staring off at a wall, his stance anxious and eyes, although clouded and unseeing, were in turmoil. He must have recognized our scents, for he knew us from the start. "You brought them, finally" he said flatly.

Starlight nodded, but did not speak, for if she did she would risk injuring Sorreltail. She set him down, "This is Sorreltail and Roven has Enstryke."

Llegar rolled over to us, graceful despite his blindness. "Who named my hatchlings, Silentwing?"

"No," I said, setting down Enstryke, who immediately cowered behind my nose gear. "I did."

Llegar snorted, "You did well." He swung his nose toward Starlight and flicked his rudders, chuckling under his breath as Sorreltail grumpily glared at him. I wondered how he could "see" this without his eyes. He gave me a glare as I thought this, it was almost disturbing. "May we have some time alone?" he asked in a cold voice, "To get to know each other?"

Starlight looked as if she wanted to protest but thought better of it and nodded, "You may have as much time as you'd like, Llegar." He gave an approving nod.

I, however, felt and odd twinge in my belly, that of jealousy of Llegar. Half of me had wished that Sorreltail and Enstryke would never find their parents, but now they had.

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><p><strong>Notes:<strong>

**I want to thank those who have contributed names for these characters. Linna is the creation of Grumman Tomcat and Silentwing is the creation of MovieGirl44.**

**Second, I want to thank Natasha for encouraging me to write on even when I was completely stuck.**

**I am still accepting names for characters. Please note they may or may not be used. I have another many characters, most of them minor, that need names. Any names, unusual to common, can be useful.**


	9. Chapter 9: The Plan and the Rat

**Hooray! The next chapter is already out, you lucky ducks. Two chapters, and perhaps more, in one week? Wow! I'm on a roll... :)**

**Grumman Tomcat~ I'm glad you liked that last chapter. And thanks for pointing that out, I fixed it now. Also, I used the name Ribal, as you'll see. It fit perfectly for one of the planes of Lightning Pack, thanks.**

**MovieGirl44~ That's funny, that Lightning Pack reminded you of our RP. :P I'm glad you've liked the last chapter. And, yes, Llegar has his hatchlings.**

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><p>Chapter 9<p>

It was over three weeks later that it happened, that the first sign of Thunder Pack's patrols appeared on Lightning Pack's boundaries.

We were flying, now, over dozens of trees. This was a rare treat, as none of us had been out of the den for a while since the sighting of twolegs, or as I had learned now, humans. Coryn, Logaan, Ribal, and I were on this patrol. Coryn's sharp eyes spotted them first. "Thunder Pack has made its appearance. It's good to know that not all the groups of the forest have gone into complete hiding."

Logaan, the oldest of Lightning Pack and the plane who had reminded me of Narvelous, nodded thoughtfully. "But Thunder Pack has not been attacked for quite some time, not even bothered."

"Hey, you might think you're all knowing, but you're not," Coryn snapped. "You aren't Greatwings, for Caracallum's sake!"

Logaan only gave him a glare for a long moment before replying, "You have to keep it down, Coryn." But it was too late for all of us. We had dangerously crossed into the zone that both packs had always fought over, the gore zone as Lightning Pack had come to know it.

"Hey!" a sharp voice sounded an alarm, "You are crossing into Thunder Pack territory. What do you think you're doing?"

It was Ribal that made the first move to fight, "This is our territory, dark forest plane." He dived nose first into the green and silver warrior. The Thunder Pack member hissed and lunged into Ribal's wing, knocking him off balance. I joined the skirmish, snapping at a warrior still twice the size of me. Logaan took him on with me. That is, until I realized who it was we were fighting.

"Blitz?"

Blitz's huge frame shrunk slightly in shock, "Roven? But… how? Conleth said you were dead!"

I felt even stronger hatred for Conleth. The rotting deer carcass had lied to my mother and all the pack. "I'm very much alive. I found Lightning Pack, they took me in."

Blitz hadn't been paying attention. Instead, he was breaking up the fight between Coryn and Gillzar. Ribal had stopped as soon as I had. He joined in on constraining Coryn, who was straining against Ribal to get to Gillzar. Gillzar was held back painfully by Blitz's jaws biting down on his elevators. Both planes would have killed each other if not for the planes holding them back. After a few moments of intense glares, they gave up their fighting to listen to us and land. Blitz was the first to speak, "Gillzar, you remember Roven, the rightful leader of our pack? Keeleth would have given up her position from the start if Roven had been old enough. I think he is now, if he wasn't from the beginnin'."

Gillzar cast a glare at Ribal and Coryn before turning to me, "He fought with these scoundrels for this territory. He's with them now."

"No," I said truthfully, "I'm with both Lightning Pack and Thunder Pack. We're both against the… twolegs, that's all that matters."

This earned me narrowed eyes all around, even from Blitz. "You can't be a member in two packs," Blitz said suspiciously, "It's impossible to be loyal to both of 'em."

I knew it was true, but I also knew I couldn't choose between the two packs. For me, that was also impossible. My family, or what I had come to know as my family, was split between scent boundaries. But I couldn't dwell on that now. Now, I needed to show Blitz all the things I had discovered that might help us all fight against the humans. I began, "Blitz, I think that, maybe, just maybe, we have what it takes to defeat the humans."

"Humans?" Gillzar asked, confused by the term.

I corrected myself, "It's the correct term for the twolegs. The term they themselves use."

Blitz shook his nose, "How'd ya know this?"

Ribal hissed at me, warning me not to tell. It was Lightning Pack's secret that Llegar had been "broken", as the humans called it, to do the humans' wills. They were embarrassed by the fact that they could not keep their own planes safe. I ignored this warning but was not going to break the promise to keep Llegar's past a secret. "Lighting Pack found out and told me. Besides, what does it matter how I came to know this? It isn't even relevant to defeating them."

Coryn snarled, "Are you thinking we, Lighting Pack, are going to join forces with _Thunder Pack_?" He mentioned Blitz's pack's name with such scorn that I flinched.

"I am," I said confidently, "I have what might be a plan."

Gillzar laughed, "A plan to defeat the twolegs? Ridicules, they haven't even bothered our pack since Conleth's reign."

To me this sounded suspicious, "You mean to say they haven't attacked the camp. Surely they are still a concern to you?"

"Not in the least," Gillzar snorted, "They haven't even been spotted and the deer have returned."

All of Lightning Pack just shook their noses in disbelief. Ribal was interested now, his bright blue stripes flashing messages to Logaan and Coryn. Lightning Pack had an entire system of language in their typically luminescent markings. I only caught a few "words" in their conversation. Blitz and Gillzar both just looked on in shock. Then Ribal spoke, "The humans haven't been spotted, but why not in your territory. They are all over ours. What did your pack do to get rid of them?"

Blitz shrugged, "You'd have to ask Conleth. He's the one who made our territory a safe place from twolegs."

"Who's Conleth?" Ribal asked, obviously curious as to Thunder Pack's situation.

"Our leader, or at least one of our leaders," Blitz explained, "Roven's mother, Keeleth, is the other super alpha."

Logaan's lips curled downward, "Roven is part of Thunder's royal family? Why isn't he leader then?"

"None of your territory," Gillzar snapped, "Conleth and Keeleth are our super alphas. That is all you need to know."

"Stand down, Gill," Blitz hissed, "these planes are friends."

"Says who, you?" Gillzar snickered, "Are you our leader?"

Blitz's flaps rose in anger, "No, Roven is. Now he's alive, whatever Conleth says, and he's the rightful heir. The only reason Keeleth chose to keep the throne of super alpha is because they were too young."

Coryn slammed his nose into Blitz, "Okay, we get it. Now we need to hear Roven's plan." I couldn't believe it; Coryn trusted me to give orders. If there was one thing I had learned over the month I had stayed with Lighting Pack, it was that you can never predict what will happen.

At first I couldn't speak. Blitz nudged me into reality. "I… I… we need both packs for this. Lightning Pack, I'm guessing, is going to be with me, but what about Thunder?"

Blitz gave Gillzar a sideways glance, "I don't think Conleth is going to accept this. We aren't in any trouble right now."

"Oh, but if I know humans," I argued, "They'll return and destroy Thunder Pack if they possibly can."

Gillzar looked as if he agreed, "They will be back, but how can we defeat the most abundant creature in this forest?"

"One word: Fire," I answered. "But I have to tell you the rest with the whole of both packs present."

For the first time in what had become over two months of banishment, I was being brought into the heart of Thunder Pack territory along with all of the members of Lightning Pack: Starlight, Ribal, Llegar, Logaan, Coryn, Dennyr, Linna, Ethra, and even the hatchlings. Blitz led us in, parading us through the tunnels of Thunder Pack's camp as if we were heroes. Starlight and Coryn both were joining in on Linna and Logaan's glaring fest, receiving glares from the pack members of Thunder.

But this glorious entry was stopped by two, huge, impressive planes I had never met before. One had jagged fresh grizzly bear claw marks slashed down her nose, the other was blind in one eye. Scars from a fight long ago twisted down his eyelid trailing all the way down his fuselage. Each had blood red markings under each eye, and circle with two slashes down the middle of their noses. It made every member of Lightning Pack freeze in terror. "Who are you?" the female snarled in an accent I had never heard.

Blitz stood up to her, but even he only stood up to where her wing met her body. I wondered where these planes came from. They looked like nothing I had ever seen before. Like Llegar, they were plain silver other than their red markings. "I am Blitz, deputy of Thunder Pack; I am to show these planes of Lightning Pack to Conleth and Keeleth."

So Conleth and my mother had eggs? That was news to me, but there was no time to think upon that. The male plane spoke, his voice as dull as his eye, "Conleth does not have time for this. Prisoners are to be killed immediately."

Conleth had been taking prisoners? Why… and why did my mother approve? Blitz had no time or patience for arguing, "I demand to be let through. That is where my den is, that is where my home is. It's against the Leader's Code to keep a warrior from his room."

The female slipped away for a moment, only to return a few minutes later. She showed no sign of emotion, she seemed not even to blink. "Conleth allows it, but you may only see Keeleth." The two planes moved away from the entrance of the royal tunnels to let us through.

If looks could kill, those planes would have been dead. Blitz's eyes contained Sorcanar's entire palace in them, fire and death written in his face. He rolled through the folded wings of the two planes with dignity and hatred. We followed.

The tunnels beyond the warrior's dens were elaborated with deer hides painted with the juice of berries and plants. It was not the home I remembered. How had Conleth changed everything in so little time? I wanted to rip each and every tapestry off their hook-like branches and give them back to the warriors that rightfully owned them. Yes, these wild painted deer skins belonged to warriors. They were given to them by the singflight of the pack. The highest of the warriors rank wise would be given these to show their accomplishments. Conleth had only been given three since I had seen him last: two for good work in battle and one for becoming leader. Now there were at least ten of these decorations hanging on the walls.

As we made our way into tunnels that never existed when I was with Thunder Pack, Blitz was mumbling something about how horrible Conleth was and how other pack members failed to see that. Finally he snarled to me, "Be prepared fer what's next. It gets far worse than this."

And it did. The leader's den, the one with the stream, the one that almost ten full grown, oversized planes could fit into, was now even larger. It was freshly dug out. You could smell the dirt still clinging to the air, the fresh earth damp around you, and there was no denying it had taken a lot of planes to stabilize yet create this big of a space. But not only the size of the room was impressive, but the ornaments adorning the walls. Wolf skulls, deer antlers, and bear claws hung from artistic and strategic places. It was as amazing as it was revolting. Last but not least, my eyes settled on the oddest part of the place, the beds for the leaders. There were two, piled high with cow skin, rabbit fur, and deer hide. Another, smaller bed was placed on the floor besides the left of the larger. None other than Azarious lay curled up there. Other than him, nobody was there.

Azarious slowly opened his eyes. As soon as he did, he bounced up, "Brother! Roven, I can't believe it's you!" He ran to me and rubbed his nose against mine. "What was it like being banished? Was it scary? Did you meet any twolegs?" My brother then looked at the planes behind me and hid against my nose, "Why are prisoners here?"

I looked down at him; he looked scared and was shivering. "They aren't prisoners. I don't know what Conleth is even doing with prisoners. They are my friends." I smiled at them, hoping they would smile back. Only Coryn and Llegar did not, but how could Llegar see to smile?

Azarious inched out of hiding, "You… you're sure?" I gave a confident nod. Azarious then burst out of his place next to my nose and excitedly began greeting everyone. "Hi, my name's Azarious, what are you guys' names?"

Ethra and Starlight shared a laugh and began to give him the attention every hatchling Azarious' age wants but tries to get away from. I watched in amusement as he scrambled to get away from Ethra, who had begun to nuzzle him sweetly. It was then that my mother came in. She looked pale and restless, as if she had gotten very little sleep. She looked at Blitz sadly and then scanned the room, taking in all of the planes there. All, it seemed, except me. She passed over us once more and then gasped.

"Roven, you're alive?" Her voice was harsh and raw, as if she had been yelling. Then she came up to me and rested her nose on mine, "Roven, Conleth said you were dead."

I suppressed a growl, "He was mistaken. But now I have a plan that just might get rid of the humans for good or at least shoo them off."

She looked at me confused, "Humans? Roven, what language are you speaking?"

I rolled my eyes, "Twolegs, mother, it's their proper name."

She nodded and took a deep breath. "The 'humans' haven't bothered us since your departure." Then she looked around as if checking to make sure no inferior planes were in the room with them. She cast a suspicious glance at the planes of Lighting Pack before whispered, "Conleth fended them off. He made a deal with them."

I backed up in shock, "No, the humans couldn't have! That's what happened with Blitz's sister's tribe! That's what's happened to all of the planes that left without fighting!"

"Keep your voice down," mother hissed, "Conleth could be listening."

Starlight nudged me to the side, "Roven, we came to discuss a plan, not make enemies. We need Conleth here before you discuss the plan and we can't be having you mad at him while he's here."

"You're right," I agreed, taking a deep breath. "We need him here soon. I don't think we're welcome here for very long."

My mother's eyes grew sad, "If I were truly a leader of this pack, you would be welcomed with open wings, but with Conleth?" She looked away, "I'm just here for show, so he isn't disobeying the Leader's Code fully."

"Then why are you even here?" Llegar asked, his blank eyes boring into her.

"Because I have eggs to tend to, even if they are _his_ eggs, I still can't abandon them."

Azarious had got away from Ethra by now, of course hearing our conversation as he got free. "Yeah, we're gonna have brothers and sisters, more of them, Roven! Aren't you excited?" I nodded absent mindedly. Conleth was an enemy to Thunder Pack, even if no one realized it yet. I just knew it.

Mother smiled, despite her the sadness of her situation. It was then that Conleth came in, he looked strong and healthy, his stripes so bright orange that they seemed to glow. Coryn light up his stripes slightly as if to challenge him. I just caught the smug smile of the plane as he did so. Conleth nearly did too. He only glared. "Who are all of these planes, Roven? And why have you returned. You had been banished, or do the rules not apply to you?"

I swallowed, everyone was silent and Azarious pressed himself against Ethra, who he had tried so hard to get away from before. Mother cowered away, positioning herself behind Logaan. Logaan stared at Conleth, but it was not a glare. It was as if he were trying to see good beyond Conleth's frame and soul that was being hidden by evil shadows. I answered when Conleth's lips curled up slightly, showing his sharp teeth. "I came to share a plan with you, and these are the remainder of Lightning Pack."

Conleth's eyes went red, "Lightning Pack was killed. I promised that. Lighting Pack is not welcome here. I don't care about any plan, no matter what."

I shook my head scornfully, "I have a plan to rid the forest of twolegs. They will come back, and you know it."

Conleth looked worried, as if I had hit a nerve. "You're right… but…" he shook his nose and regained his hard look, "You will share this plan with me and then we shall see what I decide. Give me one night of thinking before I make my final decision."

Starlight was reluctant to agree with that, "Yes, I… I'll… I'll agree to that. One night. That's it."

Conleth's voice sounded to me like a snake, "One night."

Starlight then turned to me. I began to explain the plan. When I finished everyone was looking up to me both confused and inspired. "That ought ta work!" Blitz exclaimed.

Conleth nodded, "I'll think about it, until then, I have to go to a meeting to schedule patrols for tomorrow. You have to leave, come back tomorrow for my answer."

I said goodbye to mother and Azarious. Mother had tears in her eyes, "I wish you didn't have to go."

"I wish so, too," I agreed, "But I have to. I'm a part of both packs, but Lightning Pack is my home now." Blitz looked sad too. "Roven, at one point in yer life yer gonna have ta choose yer pack."

I nodded, "I know, but right now, I think we're allies." Blitz smiled slightly as we made our way back to the outside of the Thunder Pack camp.

As we made our way back to our camp, nobody noticed a plane flying off into human territory… a plane with orange stripes that nearly glowed.

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><p><strong>Notes:<strong>

**I think I might have enough names for now, thank you for all who contributed.**

**I keep forgetting to mention that these planes are based off of F-18s and F-16s. Just to let you know, the forest planes classify the two groups as two tailed and one tailed. I've been meaning to say that for a while.**


	10. Chapter 10: Tribe of Rushing Water

**I am sorry I haven't updated for a while... the final weeks of school are extremely busy but once school is over... who knows! I may have more time on my hands then stories to write. But until then new chapters will come slowly. Thank you for reading.**

**MovieGirl44~ Oh, yes he does know something... but you'll just have to wait to find out what.**

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><p>Chapter 10<p>

I was restless all night, wondering whether or not Conleth would agree to help us. I knew my mother wanted to join me, but why would Conleth listen to my mother? He wasn't a good leader, that much anyone could tell who was told the truth, but there was something beyond his simple yet horrible reign that bothered me.

Starlight's voice wafted into my ears like a song, "Roven, your father has to be stopped."

"He's not my father," I snarled, "that oil covered rat killed my father." I turned to her, "Mother doesn't believe me, and I couldn't tell her even if she would, not with those… rogue planes Conleth hired."

Starlight cocked her head, the markings on her nose sparkling in the small amount of light there was. "Conleth hired rogues? How do you know?"

"You forgot I'm from Thunder Pack, I am of the royal family. The royals must remember all of the pack, but it's kind of hard not to when you are always passing then in the tunnels," I chuckled slightly, mostly out of nervous energy. "Those two oversized planes that we saw, the ones with the crossed out circles, they weren't from the pack."

Starlight narrowed her eyes, "Those planes smelt strongly of humans. What were humans' planes doing there?"

"They may have escaped, like Llegar," I suggested, not sure what to think of Starlight's statement.

"Unlikely but possible," Starlight said with a slow nod. "But you're right about Conleth, there's something fishy about him."

Then Linna, who was growling in her sleep most of the night, awoke. "Will you keep it down, for Caracallum's sake?"

"Linna," Starlight hissed, "What did you think about Thunder Pack?"

Linna shrugged, "I thought their leader was a big jerk, along with those two hooligans. They did not rise and they did not fall on my list of the best packs I've met."

Starlight nodded, "Unfortunately, Roven, I'm with her on that."

"It didn't used to be like that," I said quietly, knowing it was true. "My father and my mother, when they ruled the pack, were good leaders."

Ribal stirred, unfolding his wings and yawning. His sharp teeth flashed in the dim light as his lips raised and tongue curled. "What time is it?"

Starlight butted her nose against his side slightly playfully, "Too early to be up." Her voice grew dark and serious, "Especially when battle may be lurking around the corner of the day."

"Star's right," Llegar said, peeking in from the entrance. His dead eyes scanned the place, as if seeing without seeing. "Conleth is going to accept, I could hear it in his voice. But along with good intentions, there were darker ones behind his perhaps 'good' reign. We may have to battle more than one plane on this trip."

Nobody moved, not even a twitch of a rudder rustled the air. You could have heard someone blink as the truth sunk into us, chilling us to the core and instilling a deep dread in our souls. Tension was almost whirring through the air audibly as fear set in.

It was I who broke the silence by clicking my teeth together as an idea formed once more in my head. I could see it now, Lighting Pack, Thunder Pack, and the Tribe of Rushing Water fighting valiantly side by side against the humans. The only problem was that being allies with another pack, tribe, or group was absurd and unheard of but I was determined to have every one of the forest planes fighting together, if it worked.

The planes of Lightning Pack looked at me expectantly. I cleared my throat. "The Tribe of Rushing Water might join us." For a moment no one responded. "Or maybe it's a stupid idea."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Linna said with a smug grin. "Do you know how much Rushing Water hates other forest planes? Besides, the humans would never dare interfere with them. They aren't worth it. I mean, who wants a cliff face to live in anyway?"

Llegar looked thoughtful though, "I don't know, for Rushing Water may be vain but they aren't invincible. They need to have a chance against the humans and their doing. I should know, I've been captured by them. They are capable of more than you may think."

Ribal nodded, "But we have to try. We need all the planes we can get."

"And as soon as possible," Starlight agreed, her sleek form slipping through the den entrance. "Ribal and Roven, you will go and try to get Rushing Water to join us in this war."

With a nod, we slipped out of the maze of tunnels and caves that Lightning Pack called their home, catching fires flickering controlled in the corner of our eyes, Ethra and the hatchlings playing together, and movement of cave rats in the recesses of the crags in the rocks. After a time of picking our way to the entrance of the cave, we felt the prickling down our backs and necks of being watched. Ribal sensed this first, "Someone's behind us. I can feel it."

"Me too," I agreed, casting a glance around me. Nobody seemed to be there.

"At ease," Llegar's voice whispered through the cave, echoing slightly. "I'm coming with you." For a few moments, there was the sound of rustling and the huge plane showed himself. His eyes looked past us all, unseeing just as always, but set with grim determination.

"But," Ribal started, "You're blind. I don't think Starlight would approve."

"Oh so what if she thinks I can't find my way 'round. I've been dying to feel wind under my wings since my escape." He smiled slightly, "Can't blame a plane for that, can you?"

Ribal snorted, giving me a helpless look, knowing Llegar could not see it. "O-okay. Let's go then."

It was several minutes after we made ourselves at home in the air before any of us spoke. It was not the tense, impending battle, but the way Llegar looked. There was fear in the way he flew, a slight shortness of nervous breath, a quick rudder flick with every sound, or the baring of his teeth when the wind picked up. He was on edge, and that put Ribal on edge, therefore passing the feeling to me. Something about the way Llegar spoke and acted, something about his aura made him trustworthy and wise. But now there was a strong sense of dread rising in our throats as we neared the lake to which Rushing Water prided themselves in owning.

It was then that Llegar stopped and broke into a hover that seemed impossible. "You go on, I mustn't go further. Star wouldn't be happy with me if she knew I was out, let alone go across borders." There was a lightness to his words but it sounded forced and unnatural. He turned around and landed on the lake's bank. "Better to find my way by ground when others are not with me. Unfortunately."

We nodded, swallowing hard in fear. "I don't know," I said, "why was Llegar so tense."

"He knows things," Ribal answered, casting a surreptitious glance around the area, "Like he's connected somehow with Greatwings, ever since he returned from being captured."

I wanted to ask, but I had before. Starlight had snapped back at me, saying it was none of a dark forest plane's business to know the pack's secrets. "Sure," I said, trying to sound nonchalant, "but now we have to focus."

"Right," Ribal said. "Have you ever been to the Tribe of Rushing Water's camp? Ever seen it? I hear it's amazing."

"I have," I admitted, "but I never saw anything but the edge of the cliffs."

Ribal looked interested, "So it's true then? They live in and on the cliff face? Like us?"

"As far as I could tell. But it seemed different than our pack's home. They had more like open caves, rather than concealed ones." It was then that we saw it: oil. It stained the water a deep black, greasy, and colors spilled at the edges of the oil, making it look as if a rainbow had died a gruesome, horrible death. It splattered the sides of the cliff as well and trickled down the teeth like rocks that grew up and created a border and wall to block water out. "What happened?" Everywhere we looked there was oil. And blood.

Ribal swallowed, "We're too late. The humans have come."

I turned, skimming the water with my port wing, "We have to help anyone if they are still here, there might be wounded and dying here."

"Not likely," Ribal said, preferring to stay far above the camp where the oil stained rocks looked simply as if they were black. "Humans only kill or take prisoners. They don't leave the wounded unless they are going to die."

"Then we have to search still," I said slowly. I scanned the cliff face, looking for any plane at all. There were only a few hulking forms so obliterated by bullets and oil that there was no telling who the planes were. After a while of scanning the back and cliff face I heard rasping breathing.

As I drew nearer I saw the form of the legendary Neerrokell, the super-alpha, the leader. His frame was splashed with oil and blood framed his lips. He looked up at me. "Thunder. Run. They are coming." And he began to chant in a rasp unforgiving.

_Freedom shall wear a harness,_

_The dim light of dawn shall be the bright light of day,_

_The essence of life will be chained by death,_

_Today's hunger will be tomorrow's fullness,_

_Forest turns to stone,_

_Water and blood turn to gas and oil,_

_Fear dominates all._

_They are coming._

_The plane's song is ending._

_So fight to scream the last breaths of freedom._

And Neerrokell looked up at me. "Run or die." He then mouthed the word 'help' before his eyes rolled back and life left him. The Tribe of Rushing Water was all but gone.

Ribal hadn't been watching, he had been searching the caves hollowing out homes in the cliff. I heard his call from inside one cave that he had found something but I felt numb and unable to move. All I could do was stare at Neerrokell's oil spattered frame in horror and fear. The humans had struck, they were close. Too close for any comfort. But I could think about it no longer, for Ribal called again.

"Roven! I found a survivor!" I rushed to him, thankful for the opportunity to put Neerrokell's body out of my mind, of the words he spoke.

When I arrived, there was a small but strong looking female plane standing there. She shivered as she pressed up against Ribal's wing for warmth. Fear was present in her eyes, making them dark and haunted. Her color was an almost white silver, a bit like Dennyr's, and her markings were a pale, whirling gold.

"She's not able to fly. Hasn't been taught yet," Ribal said slowly, "Or at least I think she hasn't."

The little plane glared defiantly up at him. "I can fly, I'm older than I look. Besides, I don't have to go anywhere…" then she paused, "Who are you talking to?" She hadn't noticed me.

Ribal pointed with his nose to me and the little plane shied away. I came forward slowly, "Are you okay?"

She backed up, deeper into the cave. "I'm fine. Just leave me alone! I don't want to go with a human's plane! Don't make me go!"

I must have seemed to grow in size, "I am no human plane! We're only trying to help." She only backed up further, until her tail scraped against the rock wall. "That sounds like something the humans' planes would say."

Then Ribal came to her. She seemed to trust him as he spoke softly to her, "No, he's my friend, a packmate. We aren't going to take you to the humans' place, but we are going to take you with us. It's not safe here for you, or anyone. Do you know if there are any other survivors?"

She frowned, tears forming at her eyes, "No. They're all gone. They took my mother and sister and then they killed my father. My brother was tranquilized and then taken too."

"Tranquilized?" Ribal and I asked at the same time.

"They did it to many, to those that didn't fight the best. It makes them go into a sleep… and then they either kill them or take them away. Those that can't fight were taken by simple force, from what I saw."

Ribal pressed his nose lightly against hers as she began to sob. "What's your name?"

"My name's Noratali," she whispered shakily.

"Well, Noratali," Ribal said a little louder, "we must be getting going."

It took some coaxing before we convinced her that we were just going to the forest, but she followed all the same. It also turned out that several other planes of Rushing Water were still alive and flying. Most had run away during the attack, confused and turned around. Some hid in fear, trying to protect family members. Still others had been injured and faked their deaths. There were ten planes in all, three of them hatchlings, four of them apprentices, and another three of them full grown warriors. The Tribe of Rushing Water had survived; it seemed, to the point where they could start again if they must.

We lead the remnants of Rushing Water back to Lightning Pack's camp. Starlight was pacing back and forth when we arrived, her pin point markings sparkling in the sunlight. "Where have you been? It's taken you over three hours just to gather…" she looked over the planes we had brought, "ten planes? Where are the rest of Rushing Water?"

"They are dead or captured." Ribal said dimly. "The humans attacked them."

"They destroyed the whole camp," I added.

Starlight took a deep breath, "So they have joined us." Ribal and I both nodded. "Good, because Conleth is coming soon to tell us his answer."

"But I thought we had to go there," I said slowly. I had to share the dying leader's words with mother. They haunted me greatly, echoing through my mind like a ghost in the wind.

"No, he is coming here. A patrol will come through soon, anytime now."

And anytime it was indeed. It was but ten minutes before he arrived, his head held high and stripes glinting in the sun. Those stripes made me nervous, a grim reminder of my family. He came with four planes: the two rogues, Isron, and Whitefern. Whitefern looked sad; her head hung low and her swirling markings pale. In truth, only Conleth and his two thugs looked well fed and healthy. Isron looked fine but exhausted, as if he could hardly stand up on his landing gear.

Starlight, Coryn, Ribal, Llegar, and myself went up to meet him. "So," Starlight said with regal bearings, "what have you decided?"

"I've decided to join you in your raid."


End file.
